Malcolm's Story
Malcolm Milne is one of Australia's greatest alpine skiers. He was the junior national champion at the same time as his older brother Ross held the senior title. Ross was killed in a training accident prior to the Innsbruck 1964 Olympic Winter Games. One effect of the tragedy was to give extra motivation to Malcolm, then 15, to prove to the world that skiers from countries such as Australia could race on difficult downhill courses. He was 19 when he went to his first Olympics, at Grenoble in France, in 1968. At the end of 1969, Milne won gold in the downhill at the World Cup in Val d'Isere in France - Australia's first alpine world cup medal. Two months later he won bronze in the downhill at the World Championships in Val Gardena.
He was expected to do well at the Olympics at Sapporo, Japan in 1972, but suffered a cartilage injury to his left knee which threatened to cause him to withdraw. After Sapporo, Milne turned professional for two years and then retired. Milne's success inspired many Australian skiers and also prompted the Australia Ski Federation to fund more young hopefuls to compete in Europe.
Taken from Harry Gordon’s ‘Australia and the Olympic Games’
