minor mistake or miscalculation<\/a> being the difference between perceived success and failure. For all the glory that is bestowed upon the winners, and the mixed emotions of the minor medallists, the vast majority of athletes have left Milano Cortina without stepping on to a dais.<\/p>\nSuccess comes in many forms, and what comes next will vary from athlete to athlete now that the Winter Games have finished. The range of emotions and motivations being felt across Australia\u2019s 56-strong team will include relief, emptiness, frustration, disappointment and despair, as well as the pride, gratitude, disbelief and anger that James expressed.<\/p>\n
Joanne Carter, a former Australian figure skater and two-time Olympian, has a newfound appreciation for how athletes respond to their performance. The 45-year-old finished 11th in the short program and 12th in the free skate at Nagano 1998 and, after overcoming a major knee injury, was again part of the team eight years later.<\/p>\n
Carter returned to the Olympics at Milano Cortina for the first time since competing, this time in a support role with the figure skating and speed skating teams. Watching from the sidelines, Carter is far enough removed from the fire on ice to recall how she felt \u201c100% pride\u201d after each of her Olympic campaigns.<\/p>\n
Scotty James says he will be back after securing his third Olympic medal in Livigno. Photograph: Dan Himbrechts\/AAP<\/p>\n
\u201cThe AOC [Australian Olympic Committee] say \u2018once an Olympian, always an Olympian\u2019, and that comes through very strongly when you finish,\u201d she says. \u201cThe Australian public, the media, all the organisations, they really do make Olympians feel like they\u2019ve achieved something special, and that the biggest part is being there competing.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re left with a kind of pride that you\u2019ve been able to put on the team kit and represent your country at a level that\u2019s like every other competition but tenfold. The Olympics is obviously the pinnacle of every athlete\u2019s sporting career. But it can\u2019t be the be-all and end-all.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite getting silver, James\u2019s disappointment was palpable. Photograph: Hannah McKay\/Reuters<\/p>\n
The curtain coming down on the Games is far from the end of most winter sports seasons. World Cup titles are still to be decided, and world championships are back on the horizon for some disciplines. The figure skating and speed skating teams are among those with little time to reflect on what they achieved in Italy.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were back on the ice training three days after finishing their competition,\u201d Carter says. \u201cIt just goes to show the professional level of these athletes, they really do switch straight back into season mode.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think a lot of the reflection will come after their season finishes. From my own experience, things hit home when you have time to sit down and really understand the gravity of what\u2019s just happened.\u201d<\/p>\n
Holly Crawford enjoyed watching the Olympics from her home in Sydney for the first time since she appeared at four consecutive Winter Games from Torino 2006. The Australian snowboarder had a successful, albeit injury-hampered career capped by a world championship halfpipe crown in 2011, and silver on the same stage in 2009 and 2013.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have highs and lows in life, obviously, but in sport, I found them to be so intensified,\u201d Crawford says. \u201cThey\u2019re so much higher, they\u2019re so much lower, and they often come at you so quickly.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo watch these athletes and see some of them absolutely elated by winning, or absolutely devastated by their performance or where they maybe didn\u2019t achieve what they wanted to, it\u2019s hard as a spectator even after having been there too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Crawford\u2019s memories of competing at four Olympics are tinged with frustration over what might have been. Injuries are part and parcel of sport and especially those where acrobatic landings and high speed falls leave little margin for error. Crawford, now an ambassador for Endometriosis Australia after being diagnosed with the condition after she retired from snowboard competition, suffered more than her fair share across her career.<\/p>\n
At her first Olympics, 16-year-old Indra Brown fifth-place finish was an impressive feat. Photograph: Dylan Martinez\/Reuters<\/p>\n
Australia had 32 Olympic debutants in Milano Cortina, including five teenagers<\/a>, who now have first-hand experience of the global showpiece, and can start plotting their return. For the veterans of the team, thoughts that this might have been their last Winter Games \u2013 or that retirement is near \u2013 have fresh space to work their way in.<\/p>\n\u201cI don\u2019t think you can just count on having another Olympics,\u201d Carter says. \u201cIt\u2019s a long four-year cycle and you never know what will happen in that time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Less than a week since James\u2019s Olympic dreams were shattered with a gamble that didn\u2019t quite come off in the snowboard halfpipe final, the 31-year-old has committed to another \u201cquad\u201d with a visit to the French Alps in 2030 in mind.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo anyone who\u2019s ever fallen just short, I see you,\u201d he said in his post on Instagram. \u201cIt\u2019s OK to feel the sting. It means you care. It means you dared to want something extraordinary. I\u2019m proud. I\u2019m hungry. I\u2019m grateful. And \u2026 I ain\u2019t fuckin\u2019 leaving! See you at the next one.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Snowboard star and three-time Olympic medallist Scotty James is still riding a wave of emotion. Australia\u2019s most decorated…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":499260,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-499259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=499259"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499259\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/499260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=499259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=499259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=499259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}