Champion over adversity Alisa Camplin-Warner named Australia's Chef de Mission for Milano Cortina 2026
From winning Olympic gold on fractured ankles to being the first female to lead her country’s Winter Olympic Team, Alisa Camplin-Warner continues to set new milestones for Australia's female athletes.
Freestyle Skiing
Double Olympic medallist in freestyle aerial skiing Alisa Camplin-Warner will serve as the Australian team's Chef de Mission for Milano Cortina 2026, the National Olympic Committee announced on Wednesday, 2 October.
The country's first female Winter Olympic champion, Camplin-Warner is best known for winning a gold medal at Salt Lake City 2002 where she was competing while still in recovery from two broken ankles.
Camplin-Warner practised gymnastics growing up and won medals in the sport at the state level. Skiing came into her life when she visited a ski show in 1994. The show's organisers had set up a trampoline and harness where visitors could try aerial skiing moves. With her gymnastics training, Camplin-Warner was a natural fit and was encouraged to take up the sport competitively.
Since she did not learn to ski until she was 19, Camplin-Warner did not have the best results at her first international competitions. She made progress over the following years, even finishing one spot off the podium at the World Cup finals in 2001, but still did not make the cut for the national team going to Salt Lake City. It was only when her teammate, former world champion Jacqui Cooper, got injured that Camplin-Warner received the call up.
The Olympic rookie was recovering from fractures to her ankles in the lead-up to the Games but managed to win gold with a score of 193.47 points for two triple-twisting double somersaults. It was the first gold medal for an Australian female athlete at a Winter Olympic Games and the first gold for the country in skiing.
Four years later, Camplin-Warner took bronze with a score of 191.39 at Torino 2006 despite having jumped a total of 20 days on snow in the two years ahead of the Games. The athlete underwent a serious stomach operation during that Olympic cycle and spent another six months in rehabilitation from knee reconstruction surgery.
Camplin-Warner’s other career accolades include a world title, a world record and multiple World Cup victories.
Camplin-Warner's appointment as Chef de Mission for Milano Cortina 2026 marks a historic moment for Australian sport as she will be the first female to lead the country’s Winter Olympic Team.
She previously served as Deputy Chef de Mission at Beijing 2022, Performance Manager at PyeongChang 2018 and Chef de Mission at the 2012 Youth Olympic Games in Innsbruck, Austria, along with her other leadership roles in sport.
“I am deeply grateful for this opportunity and thrilled to be working with all our Winter Sports, coaches and athletes. Collectively we’ve built a strong and proud winter history in Australia, and we look forward to enhancing this legacy together,” Camplin-Warner said of her new appointment.
“Our athletes have made huge sacrifices and invested so much of their lives to represent their country. I want to honour everything they committed – physically, mentally and emotionally – to give each athlete the best Olympic performance opportunity possible."