Source : ABC NEWS
The smile on Jakara Anthony’s face could not have been wider.
Australia’s champion was back on the top step of the podium, a perch she has occupied so frequently over the past four years you’d think they’d have started awarding her loyalty points.
But the journey to this gold medal was so much tougher than anyone might have expected.
Just a matter of days since the crushing devastation of the single moguls event, where Anthony crashed out in the super final despite dominating every run throughout the day, scenes of joy replaced the shocked silence.
Jakara Anthony was able to share her win with family and friends. (AP: Abbie Parr)
The turnaround was extraordinary.
The redemption arc, total.
Anyone who has even taken a tangential interest in moguls skiing in recent years knows Anthony is an athlete who is extraordinary on so many levels.
But battling back from a position of utter despair to being competitive again with 72 hours is truly astonishing.
Australia learned a lot about Anthony in that defeat.
They learned she was stoic. Composed. Mature. Brave.
Jakara Anthony culd not wipe the smile off her face following her win. (AP: Lindsay Wasson)
News that Anthony was a picture of positivity the night of her crushing disappointment so as not to put a downer on the men who were due to compete the following night would not have surprised anyone.
But those people didn’t see the tears behind closed doors.
They didn’t experience the doubts.
They weren’t there as Anthony ran through the mistake in her mind, wondering and worrying about what might have been and what should have been.
They didn’t have to be broken down to be built back up to a level that few are even capable of attaining, let alone have to deliver time and time again on the same stage where your world crashed down around you earlier in the week.
But Anthony knew.
Her long-time coach, Peter McNiel knew.
Her support network, they knew too.
Jakara Anthony (left) with three-time Olympic gold medallist Jessica Fox. (Getty Images: Cameron Spencer)
“To be honest, I was doubting myself a bit this morning after what happened the other day,” said Anthony, who has won more World Cup events than any Australian skier in history.
“This was only my second duals event in about two-and-a-half years.
“Missing the whole of last season with injury and then a lot of events getting cancelled this year, I only got the one event leading in.
“There were just a lot of unknowns.
“Also [it was the] first duals event at the Olympics. We didn’t really know how certain things were going to go.”
Anyone who has followed Anthony’s career probably had some idea.
She had only competed in one duals World Cup event since March 2024 — finishing sixth — but had won the seven dual events in a row she had contested before that.
In total, nine of her record 26 World Cup wins have come in the duals format.
The only nagging doubt was just how much the singles error had affected her, woven deep into her psyche to undermine everything she had achieved in her stellar career.
Jakara Anthony showed cool nerves in the Big Final. (AP: Abbie Parr)
It wasn’t a problem.
“That was really heartbreaking, the singles,” Anthony said in an understated manner.
“I really think I came in here with such a great chance of taking home that top step, but elite sport — it’s hundredths of a second and one little mistake and it was all over.
“That was really challenging to come back from.
“To be able to turn that around with the help of my support crew around me has been a pretty massive feat, I think.
“And [it] makes this medal even more special.”
Every gold is special. Every story that leads to the raising of arms at the top of that dais is unique.
And Anthony is ideally placed to explain that, as Australia’s only two-time Winter Olympic gold medallist.
“They’re both super special,” Anthony said.
“The first Olympic gold medal in Beijing, that was mind-blowing, and this is mind-blowing as well.
“To have my friends and family here, for it to be the first-ever dual moguls gold medal at the Olympics given out, to be the first Australian to have two gold medals, to have been able to overcome the adversity of the other day and bounce back and put down that performance — this one’s just special for a whole lot of other reasons.”
Jakara Anthony (centre) and her fellow medallists take a selfie on the podium. (AP: Lindsay Wasson)
Anthony credited her support network to bring her out of her funk and underline just how brilliant she was and has been for years.
They doubtless told her that Wednesday was simply an aberration, a deviation from the normal vein of excellence that Anthony has delivered year after year.
But only when she crossed that line and heard Advance Australia Fair would she likely have believed them.
“I have so many people believing in me, helping me get that belief in myself,” Anthony said.
“I think by the end I was just pretty sure I was going to give it my best shot and put down some runs that we were proud of.”
Australia should have been proud of Anthony before these Games even started.
They should have been prouder still of the woman who stared adversity in the face with such elegance and poise after defeat.
But now the nation has double the reason to be proud of its first two-time champion.
