Interestingly, the topics of discussion with the Salt Lake City team member never seem to be about her, nor her pursuits in the sport where she achieved international fame.

Jeannette is one of the nation’s most celebrated alpine skiers. She finished 25th at the 2002 Olympic Games and 15th, her best result, at the 1996 World Championship in the combined event.

Instead, Jeannette talks about her late mother Ailsa, who worked for the United Nations as an epidemiologist and later became an academic in mental health. A woman ahead of her time.

There are tales of the 50,000km motorbike ride she took with husband Linden from Seattle to Santiago. A man who lives by the mantra: “You can’t have an adventure without a bit of discomfort.”

Proud stories about pursuits of her daughters Lilou (10) and Ines (8), one mad about rugby union playing with the Piglets for the Jindabyne Bush Pigs, the other a 100m sprinter who’s just made regionals. Schoolgirls forging their way in the world.

Humble. Intelligent. Engaged. Kind.

These are the words that describe a woman who has made her name in alpine pursuits and is now giving back through her medical expertise as a physiotherapist.

“I’m not much of a storyteller, I’m more of a listener,” Jeannette says with a smile.

“I would say that's probably one of the things that makes me a good physio.

“It's been 20 years since I was involved in the Games directly as an athlete.

“I don't identify myself primarily as an Olympian by any means. I identify myself more as a mum and as a physio.”

Born in Geneva, Switzerland, Jeannette and her older brother Andrew spent their childhood living in Europe.

Her parents met working at the United Nations in their 20s, but tragedy struck when her father Hans-Dietmar was killed in a car accident when Jeannette was just seven years old.

The family moved across the border to France, due to the expense of living in Switzerland, before returning home to Australia the following year. 

Her mother Ailsa took a position as an academic, focused on mental health at the Australian National University, while Jeannette started at Telopea Park, a bi-national French-Australian school in Canberra.

Weekends were spent in the Snowy Mountains ski resort Guthega with both Jeannette and her brother becoming members of the Brindabella Ski Club. 

“It was a transition and reflection phase for mum,” the now 47-year-old remembers.

“I think it was probably harder for my brother, but mum tried to make it easy for us. She was ready to come home to Australia.

“I loved spending time in the mountains with my family. I loved the ski club. I connected and I felt like I was part of something. I was part of a team. I was part of a tribe.

“I was one of those kids who’d get out there, no matter rain or shine, I’d walk up and down the hill, do my drills. I just loved it.”

Jeannette’s natural talents were soon identified and before long she had earned her first call up to forerun at an International Ski Federation event at Mount Buller, Victoria.

But things didn’t go to plan; she ruptured her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and was sidelined from the sport for almost a year.

Jeannette would experience the same injury just two years later at 13, after being selected for an international pre-Olympic youth event, Jeunesse Du Monde, in Albertville, France. 

“I had to write an application form to take part in the youth event. I was selected. I was so excited. Then I blew out my knee. I was absolutely devastated,” she said.

“What was worse at the time, but in retrospect is pretty cool, my brother went instead of me. It opened up opportunities for him. 

“For me, it was tough, but I’ve always used my injuries as a driver to get back to racing.”

Jeannette spent two winters as a teenage exchange student in the French Alps fine-tuning her craft and falling in love with the sport.

She competed against the best age-group skiers in Europe, while completing her high school studies over an extended time frame.

Jeannette trekked the slalom course at Meribel with her host family, cowbells in hand, to watch four-time Olympian turned politician Zali Steggall make her debut at the 1992 Albertville Games.

“I felt a mixture of pride and awe. I thought Zali was so cool,” she said.

“I really had no idea what was involved in getting to that stage and no idea what was to come for me. One thing I did know is I wanted more of it.

“I saw Zali down at Perisher this winter. I still feel that same mixture of pride and awe for what she is doing in politics and what she has achieved in life.”

Not surprisingly, most of Jeannette’s favourite memories are linked by friendship, the pursuit of excellence and international good will.

A pre-children trip with husband Linden, riding dirt bikes from Washington State, USA to Chile was not just an adventure, but an insight into humanity. Their interaction with local people outshining the thrill of adventure or challenges faced.

“You’re sitting on a motorbike, riding through the Altiplano in Peru at high altitude, hail coming down, freezing and you get this pooling of ice in your crutch,” the skier said.

“You still have 200km to ride and you are asking yourself: ‘Why the hell am I doing this?’ It’s absolute misery. But then you get somewhere warm, you dry off, you see the sunset and the alpacas, it's phenomenal.

“The best part of our trip was the people we met along the way.

“We’d rock up, covered from head to toe in dirt and dust. We stank because we’d been camping and riding a dirt bike all day.

“They’d open their doors to us. They’d bring us into their homes, offer us food and a place to stay.”

Jeannette talks passionately about the impact of the Olympic movement and the role it plays in international understanding among nations.

She remembers working at the Sydney Olympics as “one of the best experiences of my life.”

Her role in language services was to assist athletes and dignitaries at sporting venues including hockey, taekwondo, tennis and table tennis.

“We have become very insular over the past two years with the world closing down due to the pandemic,” she said.

“Reflecting on this has really made me appreciate how the Olympics open up the world.

“The whole world comes together in a sporting arena. Superstars and then the smaller nations, like us at the Winter Games. We come together in good will and to share our passion for sport.

“The Olympics make the world seem bigger, but smaller at the same time, in the way it brings people together.”

Today Jeannette brings her Olympic ideals to sport and to her community through her medical expertise.

Over the years she has worked internationally and domestically helping athletes, including the British and Monaco ski teams, as team physio.

At her practice in Jindabyne, her clients range from winter Olympians to weekend sporting warriors and farmers.

She works closely with fellow Olympian and snow fitness guru Manuela Berchtold, with her rooms based at the mogul skier’s gym High Country Fitness.

“The way I have impact is very much on a one-to-one basis,” Jeannette says of her work.

“It's not a big stage. That's not my personality.

“I like having those chats with athletes. Talking about their rehabilitation and headspace.

“I draw on my own personal experience try to connect.”

And connect she does. Just like a good cup of tea.

Catriona Dixon