Lydia Lasilla Wins Gold, but Jacqui Cooper Won Aussie Hearts

Aussie pocket rocket, Lydia Lassila, delivered Australia’s third medal at the Vancouver Games and, in doing so, secured Australia’s best ever performance at a Winter Olympics.

In heavy fog, the women pulled out some stunning jumps. Visibility was so bad that, at times, the judges were forced to do their job in Braille.

Not that it affected the jumpers.

Aerials are one of the most dangerous sports at the Games. The athletes are landing from the equivalent of a four-storey building—get it wrong and there will be pain and lots of it.

Jumping in good conditions would be enough to challenge the courage of most athletes, but these conditions must have been terrifying. Not that it showed—there was more twists and loops than a jumbo pretzel.

Lassila clinched gold after a stunning second jump, putting all of the pressure on China’s Xu Mengtao. The pressure proved too much and Xu crashed on landing (or “ate snow” as former medallist Alisa Camplin put it), handing the gold to the Aussie.

While everyone loves a winner, there was another story playing in the background of this competition. Jacqui Cooper was facing what were, almost certainly, her last Olympic jumps.

Cooper is a stalwart of Australia's Winter Olympic sports. She is the most successful women’s aerial skier of all time and Vancouver 2010 is her fifth trip to the Olympics. The only gap in her outstanding career is an Olympic medal.

Cooper’s longevity is testament to her commitment to the sport and personal courage. She has suffered horrendous injuries and has had to have corrective surgery a head-shaking 21 times.

The horrific knee injury that she suffered in training for the 2002 Salt Lake City Games took two and a half years to get over. Most of us would have taken the hint.

Sadly, Cooper didn’t manage to secure a medal at these Games. She gave herself the best possible chance, landing both of her jumps, but was outshone by teammate Lassila and two of the Chinese competitors.

If Cooper does decide that this will be her last Games (she’s 37 now, surely 41 will be too old) then no doubt it will be with a sense of disappointment.

Not that she should feel disappointed in any way, her record is unsurpassed, but you don’t get to the top by settling for anything less than perfection.

If she does call it quits, it will still have been a hell of a career and one that all Aussies are immensely proud of.