Steven Bradbury shares his journey to gold
Overcoming adversity through positive mindset and goal setting is an enduring theme for Olympic medallist and motivational speaker Steven Bradbury OAM.
Since the 1990s, his “work hard, stay focused and never give up” messaging has inspired people throughout Australia and internationally, including attendees at a recent fundraising event hosted by the Perron Institute in Perth.
Perron Institute CEO Steve Arnott described the theme of perseverance as being well aligned with the Institute’s goal of striving to make a positive difference to people with neurological conditions.
“Our aim overall is to translate our research into improved diagnosis and targeted treatments,” he said.
“Proudly, we’ve experienced some significant success in that regard and we look forward to building on this further. But we recognise, like Steven Bradbury, there are no shortcuts to success and perseverance is the key.”
Steven is a former short track speed skater, a four times Olympic competitor and the first Australian to win a gold medal in the Winter Olympics (1000 metres event, Salt Lake City 2002).
Along the way to that historic but unexpected achievement (his opponents crashed at the final corner) he had to recover from two career threatening accidents – a crash in Montreal when a rival’s skates sliced through his right thigh and later, a barrier crash during training, resulting in a broken neck.
Steven published his autobiography, Last Man Standing, in 2005 and began a career as a motivational speaker and a television commentator for Australia at the 2006 Winter Olympics.
He was fittingly introduced at the recent Perron Institute function by Perth Lord Mayor Basil Zempilas, who was at the Salt Lake City Winter Olympic Games, and behind the microphone for Steven Bradbury’s historic win.
The event at Fraser’s, postponed from 2020 due to COVID-19 restrictions, was attended by Perron Institute donors, supporters, captains of industry and sports enthusiasts.
Following the entertaining and inspiring presentation, Professor Lindy Fitzgerald, head of Neurotrauma Research at Perron Institute and Curtin University, spoke on her research into traumatic brain injury and linked this back to Steven Bradbury’s numerous concussions during his skating career.
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