breaking rules, not ice

November 30, 2017 3:01 AM

Harley Windsor is an accidental ice skater (a wrong turn made when he was a child), who became a pairs skater after growing too tall, from Sydney's Rooty Hill. “Anything’s possible,” he says. “Nina Mozer, the head coach, told me that it doesn’t matter who you are or where you’re from, if you train professionally, you’re going to show results."

He was recently named Australia's first indigenous winter olympian.

(The first article lists a reading time of 22 minutes.)

posted by freethefeet (7 comments total)

Good find!
How about his mother, Josie. Awesome resilience in the face of such overt racism and dispossession.

“If it was me, trying to get there when I was a kid, it would never happen. Nothing like that, let alone sporting events, would never have even happened, so just for Harley to excel where he is – and it’s the talks by the elders as well.

“He comes home and he has talks with them and they help him through a lot of that mental stuff.”

Josie knows something about overcoming seemingly insurmountable obstacles. A Gamilaraay woman, Josie grew up on a mission in Gulargambone, between Dubbo and Walgett, without electricity or running water.

“A lot of people can’t comprehend that,” she says. “They think it was back in the 1920s or ’30s and I’m saying it’s not ancient history, this is relatively new history.

“I grew up coming through the referendum [1967], that type of stuff. Racism, really bad. Segregated, handouts of food, blankets, tea, and that’s where I learnt to read the newspaper.

“We got the flour, made paste and put it on the walls to put the newspaper up to stop the wind blowing through the cracks in the wall. I swore that I would never let that happen to my kids. And I didn’t.”

Harley and Katia at the ISU Junior Grand Prix.
posted by Thella at 4:01 AM on November 30, 2017 [7 favorites]

How is it determined which country they skate for? Do they just get to pick?
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 5:25 AM on November 30, 2017

I love pairs skating- such an amazing combination of factors have to come together to produce success. The levels of physical prowess, artistry, dedication and trust that must be maintained are incredible and those who excel in Pairs are IMO some pretty singularly awesome individuals. This kid sounds like he is right up there with the best. I love this story and hope for all the greatest things for him and his partner, coach and family!
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 5:34 AM on November 30, 2017

Note that the last link in the post mentions Ekaterina Alexandrovskaya recently became an Australian citizen. (No long wait in a refugee camp for her!)

Rule 41 of the Olympic Charter mandates that all Olympic competitors be citizens of the country that they are representing during the competition. It seems like a standard rule, but in today’s elite competitions and mobile world, athletes are increasingly changing passports.
posted by larrybob at 8:54 AM on November 30, 2017

So I am a little bit disappointed because I read this

"Harley Windsor is an accidental ice skater (a wrong turn made when he was a child)"

and I was picturing a kid going along in the bush and then unexpectedly slipping on ice

and then, after a brief moment of "WTF it's 40 degrees out here, how is that even possible" quickly adapted to the new terrain
posted by tel3path at 9:19 AM on November 30, 2017 [1 favorite]

And at the world championships she didn't need citizenship - they only required residency in Australia (assuming she had never competed for Russia).
posted by the agents of KAOS at 9:26 AM on November 30, 2017

Great article - I'll be rooting for them!

I got to see Megan Duhamel and Eric Radford skate an exhibition program at a local rink a couple of years ago and it was just amazing. Pairs skating is so much fun to watch.
posted by mogget at 11:42 AM on November 30, 2017