SNOWBOARD HALFPIPE: If PyeongChang 2018 is to be snowboarder Holly Crawford’s fourth and final Olympic campaign then she wants to go out with a bang.
Crawford made her Olympic debut as a 22-year-old at Torino 2006, finishing 18th in the Snowboard Halfpipe.
She jumped up the standings to eighth at Vancouver 2010, but unfortunately could not improve on that result at Sochi 2014, finishing 26th after she went into the Games under an injury cloud from a broken wrist and cracked ribs sustained in a crash three weeks before the competition.
Now, the 33-year-old wants to relish every second of her PyeongChang experience as it just might be her last.
“I mostly hope to enjoy it,” Crawford said when asked what her goals will be if she qualifies for the 2018 Games.
“To be honest my Olympic experiences have been riddled with injury and disappointment and this will likely be my last competitive Olympics.
“I am coming from a very different place this time around and hope that my attitude and my experience will get me to where I want to be and help me to feel the way I hope to at the end of what has been a very long journey.”
One of Australia’s most consistent winter athletes, the Sydney-sider won silver at the 2009 World Championships in Korea, which was Australia’s first Snowboard Halfpipe medal. She went on to win the World Championship crown in 2011 and silver again in 2013.
After an injury-riddled career with a torn ACL, multiple shoulder injuries, bulging discs and several broken bones, Crawford’s ‘never-give-up’ attitude is pushing her to a fourth Games experience; but rather than it being a sad finale she hopes it will be an exciting start to something new.
“It is likely an ending, which can play on an athlete’s mind, but it is also a beginning and I ultimately just want to prove to myself that I am worthy of the esteem that Olympians are often held in!
“17 years is a long time and I hope to walk away remembering this as the pinnacle of my career and the perfect time to bow out!”
Crawford was originally an aspiring ski racer but moved to snowboarding at a young age as she “really enjoyed the freestyle angle that snowboarding presented and the freedom that came with it.”
21 years after she made her international Australian debut in Grindelwald, Switzerland in 1998, it’s the adrenaline that has kept Crawford hooked for so long.
“Elite athletes live a fast-passed life and I have always been drawn to this,” she said.
“I also love the outdoors, travel, different cultures and a challenge; and I have been gifted all these things every year I have been competing at an elite level.”
As with any athlete who has been on the circuit for over a decade, she has grown and changed a lot throughout her career, but she wouldn’t change a second if it.
“The team, location and goals I have experienced for each Olympics has been different and I have been changed and shaped by the experiences and challenges in different ways.
“I think what I have learnt most from the Olympic experience is to be grateful!”
Crawford represented Australia at the Sapporo 2017 Asian Winter Games in February, placing seventh in the Halfpipe. A few weeks later she was the highest placed Australian female at the 2017 Sierra Nevada World Championships in Spain, finishing in 10th place.
With PyeongChang 2018 less than six months away, Crawford is really pleased with her progress leading into the South Korean Games.
“Preparations for PyeongChang are coming along great. I have had to cut back some of my on-snow training due to funding issues but the benefit of this is that I’m fitter than I’ve ever been, injury free and looking forward to getting back on-snow!”
The Snowboard Halfpipe World Cup season kicks off again in October this year where Australia’s PyeongChang 2018 hopefuls will push to secure quota places for next year’s Winter Olympics.
Georgia Thompson
olympics.com.au
