Australia at the 1964 Winter Olympics

Infobox Olympics Australia
games=1964 Winter
competitors=6
sports=1

Australia competed at the 1964 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria.Six athletes were sent, and Australia competed only in Alpine skiing. Australia's best result was Christine Smith's 27th place in downhill.

The games were marred by tragedy due to the deaths of Australian skier Ross Milne and a Polish-born British luge athlete during practice.

A minute's silence was given for them in the opening ceremony. Peter Brockhoff withdrew from the downhill event, saying "I simply cannot compete on this course where I lost my best friend". Australian reserve Peter Wenzel competed in the downhill along with Simon Brown.

Investigation into Ross's death

An inquiry held by the organising committee said that Ross "caught an edge". Hugh Weir reported to the Australian Olympic Federation that

:"Because Ross Milne was only seventeen years of age, the question was raised at the [Innsbruck] IOC meeting as to whether inexperienced people were being sent to compete in ... snow sports which contain an element of danger."

Dr Blaxland said that he was wrong about his age (he was nineteen), and that the IOC was wrong to suggest he was inexperienced:

:"In our view Ross Milne was an extremely competent skier. He had competed in Australian championships at least four years before, and we considered him to be an experienced skier. He had been in Europe before ... His fall was not due to lack of skill on his part"

Manager John Wagner said that Milne had found the path 150 metres ahead of him obscured by contestants congregating because the top part of the downhill course was overcrowded, and tried to slow down "on a spot which was not prepared for stopping or swinging". He argued that the accident might have been prevented by stricter management of the downhill course, which had a hundred racers on it. He also said that "any of the top skiers would probably have been in difficulty in a similar situation".

His brother Malcolm Milne competed in the 1968 and 1972 Winter Olympics. He said that the suggestion that skiers from Australia and New Zealand should not compete on downhill courses gave him motivation to prove that they were capable of doing so.

Alpine skiing

* Downhill: Simon Brown (61st/77), Peter Wenzel (68th), Peter Brockhoff (withdrew)
* Giant slalom: Simon Brown (51st/80), Peter Brockhoff (62nd), Peter Wenzel (68th)
* Slalom: Peter Brockhoff (did not qualify), Simon Brown (did not qualify), Peter Wenzel (did not qualify)

Peter Brockhoff withdrew from the downhill event, but Simon Brown and Peter Wenzel competed in the event, with John Wagner saying "They wanted to prove Australians can handle the difficult downhill course".

Women:

* Downhill: Christine Smith (27th/43), Judy Forras (42nd)
* Giant slalom: Judy Forras (40th/42), Christine Smith (DNF - fell)
* Slalom: Christine Smith (28th/28), Judy Forras (disqualified)

ee also

*Australia at the Winter Olympics

External links

* [http://www.olympics.com.au/ Australia NOC]
* [http://www.owia.org/ Olympic Winter Institute of Australia]

References

*"Australians at the Olympics: A definitive history" by Gary Lester ISBN 0-949853-05-4 (suspected errata listed in )

*"2002 Australian Winter Olympic Team Guide" [http://web.archive.org/web/20030308012801/http%3A//www.olympics.com.au/cp7/c9/webi/externaldocument/000114aq.pdf PDF file]

*"The Compendium: Official Australian Olympic Statistics 1896-2002" Australian Olympic Committee ISBN 0-7022-3425-7 (Inconsistencies in sources mentioned in )

*"Australia and the Olympic Games" by Harry Gordon. ISBN 0-7022-2627-0