The Vancouver Olympics provided a brilliant conclusion to the Olympic Winter Institute’s 2006-2010 quadrenniul, as Australia’s winter sports athletes collected a record medal haul.

Lydia Lassila continued Australia’s proud Aerial Skiing history of success winning Olympic Gold. Dale Begg-Smith made a second successive podium appearance at a Winter Games, adding silver to the gold he had won in Torino in 2006.

Six other athletes finished in the top ten – Jacqui Cooper fifth in women’s aerials, Scott Kneller seventh in ski cross, Tatiana Borodulina seventh in 1000m short track speed skating, Holly Crawford eighth in snowboard halfpipe, Damon Hayler 10th in snowboard cross and Emma Lincoln-Smith 10th in skeleton.

The 2008 season has been one of the best in Australia’s winter sports history.

While it is true that the total number of World Cup medals won by our athletes - 21 – fell short of the record of 23 set in 2003/04 and 2006/07, there were other reasons to be just as excited by the season as there were on those previous occasions.

The highlights of the year, of course, were the record-breaking fifth World Cup aerial skiing title achieved by Jacqui Cooper and the record-equalling third consecutive mogul skiing title collected by Dale Begg-Smith.

The 23 medals that Australia won in 2003/04 came from four athletes and just two disciplines. The same 2006/07 tally was amassed by six athletes across five disciplines, a growth in the depth of winter sports that was a strong endorsement of OWI programs.

In total, 24 of our winter sports scholarship athletes were selected to the Olympic Winter Team, with every member of the Aerial Skiing, Mogul Skiing, Snowboard Halfpipe, Alpine Skiing and Figure Skating programs gaining a berth in the Torino team. Maximum participation under Olympic rules was also achieved in Men’s Mogul Skiing, Women’s Aerial Skiing and Men’s Short Track Speed Skating.

For the second Olympic Winter Games in a row, Australia captured two medals. The highlight came in Mogul Skiing, Dale Begg-Smith winning Torino gold to become the first Australian man to stand on top of an Olympic skiing podium. Begg-Smith also won the World Cup title after recording six victories and two other podium placings. In another breakthrough, OWI mogul skiers achieved our first double podium result, through Begg-Smith (gold) and Michael Robertson (bronze) in Oberstdorf, Germany.

The aerial skiing program had its best season on record with Australia finishing on the podium at all 11 events of the circuit. Alisa Camplin defended her World Cup title, winning a record seven events along the way. Lydia Lassila (nee Ierodiaconou) collected two victories and five other medals to end the season as the world number two for the second year in a row.

Halfpipe Snowboard exceeded expectations, with 17-year-old Torah Bright winning Australia’s first halfpipe gold medal at the 2006 Olympic site of Bardonecchia, Italy. Torah's performance in her first year on the circuit was remarkable, collecting four medals and finishing in second place on the World Cup standings, despite competing in just five events.

The figure skating program changed structure during the year, with eight athletes awarded individual scholarships to assist with their Olympic preparation.

In 2002, 17 OWI athletes and nine OWI coaches and officials were selected to the Olympic Winter Games Team, providing the backbone of Australia's most successful participation at a Winter Games.

History was created, with Australia winning its first gold medals in 66 years of competing at the Winter Games, with gold coming in Aerial Skiing (Alisa Camplin) and Short Track Speed Skating (Steven Bradbury).

In total, six top ten results were achieved by OWI athletes in Olympic events at Salt Lake City.

A number of medals were also won during the World Cup season in Aerials (Jacqui Cooper x 3, Alisa Camplin x 1, and Snowboard (Zeke Steggall x 2).

Figure Skater Anthony Liu also produced Australia's best ever figure skating result at an Olympic Games, finishing in tenth place.

In the second year of the OWI, 2000, the programs grew to include short track speed skating, figure skating and alpine snowboarding.

In total 11 World Cup medals were won by four different athletes (Jacqui Cooper, Zeke Steggall, John Fletcher, Alisa Camplin) across the Aerial and Snowboard Cross disciplines.

The World Cup medals won by Alisa Camplin and John Fletcher were the first of their careers.

Aerial Skier Jacqui Cooper had an outstanding season taking out the World Cup title.