Tess Coady: A symbol of hard work
Australian snowboarder Tess Coady bounced back from the knee injury that ruled her out of PyeongChang 2018 to win bronze in the slopestyle event at Beijing 2022, becoming the second female snowboard medallist for her country.
When someone else shows that they believe and see potential in you, it motivates and inspires you to push even harder to prove them right. That’s something I’ve experienced over the last few years as an Olympic Solidarity scholarship-holder.
There came a time in my snowboarding career where my parents weren’t able to support me anymore. If I didn’t have opportunities like the Olympic Solidarity scholarship there’s no way I would have been here today, because you’ve got to spend a lot of money to access the right training facilities.
That sort of backing filled me with confidence, and made me think, “Yeah, I can really do this.” This confidence might have been the difference at Beijing 2022. Winning the snowboarding bronze there was a symbol of all the hard work I put in over the preceding four years.
Coming back from the injury I suffered, I felt I had to work twice as hard to get back to where I was and then catch up on the year that I missed out on. Being able to see my efforts finally pay off was a really special feeling. Here’s to the next Games.