By Philip O’Connor
ZHANGJIAKOU, China (Reuters) – Australian bobsleigh brakewoman Kiara Reddingius may have only seen snow for the first time in November 2021, but she arrived at the Beijing Olympics full of confidence that she can make an impact on the frozen course with team-mate Bree Walker.
The 30-year-old teacher from the town of Lenora earned the nickname “The Cool Runnings Kid” since making the switch from track and field to the icy bobsleigh.
“I hadn’t done much in the winter at all – I’m from the desert in Western Australia, I moved to Melbourne a couple of years ago, so that was the coldest weather I had experienced,” she told a media conference.
“I was talking to Dad the other week, he still lives where I grew up in a small town, there’s only about 700 people there, and he said ‘What’s the temperature there?’, and I said it’s about negative five (degrees). He said it’s 42 degrees (Celsius) here,” she explained.
A promising heptathlete, Reddingius was identified by the bobsleigh governing body in Australia as someone with the talent and body type that could succeed in the sport despite her lack of familiarity with the snow, and she jumped at the opportunity.
“I decided to give it a go after I was financially able. After the (COVID) lockdowns I was able to save a lot of money, I went to America and did some training camps there,” she said.
“Then we did pre-season in Europe and learned all the tracks there and it just went from that. So I got identified, and pretty much stalked on social media!” she said, laughing.
Now that she has made it to the Olympics, she is not content to just make up the numbers.
“I’m not really particularly focused on necessarily what I’m doing, I just want to do it to the best of my ability and I want to do it in the most elite mindset that I can,” she said.
(Reporting by Philip O’Connor; Editing by Michael Perry)
