Olympic gold medallist Lydia Lassila's dream of an aerial ski training facility built on home soil  will become a reality after a $4 million joint funding agreement between the Queensland and Federal Governments.

Queensland Sports Minister Phil Reeves said Lydia Lassila asked for local training facilities immediately after her stunning gold medal performance in Vancouver and the Bligh Government was happy to provide the venue.

“Sleeman Sports Complex will house six ski ramps up to 24 metres in height at one end of a 4 metre deep Olympic pool to be constructed as part of a series of upgrades at the complex,” Mr Reeves said.

“Currently there is no high performance training centres in the Southern hemisphere. This will be the only facility in the world accessible for 12 months of the year.

“The success of Australian athletes in these sports has seen other nations restrict access for our champions. This investment ensures they have an all season location to train.”

Federal Sports Minister Mark Arbib said aerial skiers are among Australia’s most successful female Olympic athletes and it was important this continued into the future. 

“The combined Olympic Winter Institute and the AIS Aerial Skiing program has produced two Olympic Champions and three World Champions,” Senator Arbib said.

“This is in addition to four of our female aerial skiers achieving number one rankings including 2010 Olympic champion Lydia Lassila and the 2002 Olympic champion Alisa Camplin.

“The Gillard Government is keen for this success to continue long into the future and is proud to support the Queensland Government with this aerial ski training facility,” Senator Arbib said.

Olympic Gold medalist Lydia Lassila pushed for the facility immediately after her gold medal winning jump in Vancouver and was delighted to see it come to fruition.

“This facility will help our younger athletes and have them just pouring into a facility and training all year round. We will be unstoppable in Sochi,” she said.

State Member for Chatsworth Steve Kilburn welcomed the training facility as part of the first major upgrade since being built for the 1982 Commonwealth Games.

“This will also attract athletes from other nations to Brisbane and furthers Sleeman’s reputation as a sports hub for athlete training and development.”