Lydia Lassila (née Ierodiaconou) (born 17 January 1982) is an Australian Olympic

freestyle skier Freestyle skiing is a skiing discipline comprising aerials, moguls, cross, half-pipe, slopestyle and big air as part of the Winter Olympics. It can consist of a skier performing aerial flips and spins and can include skiers sliding rails and ...

gold medalist who competed in the

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

and

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

Winter Olympic Games The Winter Olympic Games (), also known as the Winter Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were held in ...

. She is the 2010 Olympic champion and the 2014 bronze medalist in aerials. On 20 October 2010, Lassila was awarded the prestigious 'The Don' award by the

Sport Australia Hall of Fame The Sport Australia Hall of Fame was established on 10 December 1985 to recognise the achievements of Australian sportsmen and sportswomen. The inaugural induction included 120 members with Don Bradman, Sir Don Bradman as the first inductee and ...

, which recognised her ability to inspire as well as her achievements during 2010, including her gold medal performance at the

2010 Winter Olympic Games The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXI Olympic Winter Games () and also known as Vancouver 2010 (), were an international winter multi-sport event held from February 12 to 28, 2010 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with ...

Personal life

Lydia Lassila (née Ierodiaconou) was born 17 January 1982 in

Melbourne, Australia Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung/ or ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second most-populous city in Australia, after Sydney. The city's name generally refers to a metropolitan area also known ...

. She is of

Greek-Cypriot Greek Cypriots (, ) are the ethnic Greeks, Greek population of Cyprus, forming the island's largest Ethnolinguistic group, ethnolinguistic community. According to the 2023 census, 719,252 respondents recorded their ethnicity as Greek, forming al ...

and

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

descent. Her mother is Italian and her father Cypriot.Lydia Lassila bio@ NBC Olympics
Lassila completed her primary schooling at Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception Primary School in

Sunshine, Victoria Sunshine is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, west of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the City of Brimbank Local government areas of Victoria, local gove ...

, and completed her secondary education at

Methodist Ladies' College, Melbourne Methodist Ladies' College (commonly referred to as MLC) is a non-selective, non-denominational private school, private Day school, day and boarding school for girls, located in Kew, Victoria, Kew, an eastern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Melbou ...

and

Westbourne Grammar School Westbourne Grammar School is an Australian Independent school, independent co-educational day school in Truganina, Victoria, Truganina, a western suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria. Westbourne has two campus ...

. She completed a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

Applied Science Applied science is the application of the scientific method and scientific knowledge to attain practical goals. It includes a broad range of disciplines, such as engineering and medicine. Applied science is often contrasted with basic science, ...

( Human Movement) at

RMIT University The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (abbreviated as RMIT University) is a public research university located in the city of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia., section 4(b) Established in 1887 by Francis Ormond, it is the seventh-o ...

. She is married to Lauri Lassila, a Finnish former professional freestyle skier, whose career included placing 2nd in moguls at the FIS Freestyle Skiing World Championships in 1999. She gave birth to her first son in 2011 after winning gold at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. Her second son was born in 2015 after the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics where she claimed bronze. In 2020, they moved from

Lorne, Victoria Lorne is a town in Surf Coast Shire, Victoria, Australia. It is situated on the Louttit Bay and Erskine River and is a popular destination on the Great Ocean Road. At the had a population of 1,114. History Prior to British settlement, Lor ...

, to

Kittilä Kittilä (, , ) is a municipalities of Finland, municipality of Finland and a popular holiday resort. It is located in northern Finland north of the Arctic Circle within the Lapland (Finland), Lapland Regions of Finland, region. The municipality ...

Finnish Lapland Lapland is the largest and northernmost Regions of Finland, region of Finland. The 21 municipalities in the region cooperate in a Regional Council. Lapland borders the Finnish region of North Ostrobothnia in the south. It also borders the Gul ...

, near to the

Levi Levi ( ; ) was, according to the Book of Genesis, the third of the six sons of Jacob and Leah (Jacob's third son), and the founder of the Israelites, Israelite Tribe of Levi (the Levites, including the Kohanim) and the great-grandfather of Aaron ...

fell.

Career

In June 2005, Lassila suffered a ruptured

anterior cruciate ligament The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligaments (the other being the posterior cruciate ligament) in the human knee. The two ligaments are called "cruciform" ligaments, as they are arranged in a crossed formation. In ...

(ACL) and underwent

knee reconstruction Anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACL reconstruction) is a surgical tissue graft replacement of the anterior cruciate ligament, located in the knee, to restore its function after an injury. The torn ligament can either be removed from ...

using an

allograft Allotransplant (''allo-'' meaning "other" in Ancient Greek, Greek) is the Organ transplant, transplantation of cell (biology), cells, Biological tissue, tissues, or Organ (anatomy), organs to a recipient from a genetically non-identical donor of ...

. This allowed for a faster recovery and a swift return to the slopes in time for the start of the 2006 Winter Olympic Games in February. During the second qualifying round of the Torino aerials competition, Lassila's knee collapsed on impact after she attempted to land a difficult jump, re-rupturing her ACL and forcing her to withdraw. However, taking inspiration from compatriots and teammates

Jacqui Cooper Jacqueline Cooper (born 6 January 1973) is an Australian motivational speaker and retired freestyle skier. Skiing career Cooper started skiing aerials at age 16 and was on the Australian team for 20 years. During her career she had many injuri ...

and

Alisa Camplin Alisa Peta Camplin, (born 10 November 1974) is an Australian former Freestyle skiing, aerial skier who won gold at the 2002 Winter Olympics, the second ever winter Olympic gold medal for Australia. At the 2006 Winter Olympics, Camplin finished ...

, both of whom have suffered similar knee injuries, the then 24-year-old Lassila vowed to return to the sport when she recovered. Lassila made her comeback to World Cup competition 16 months later in China in December 2007, collecting a silver medal in her first event. She ended the 2007/08 season ranked second in the World Cup standings, and then went on to win her first World Cup title in the following 2008/09 season.

2010 Winter Olympics

At the

2010 Winter Olympics The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXI Olympic Winter Games () and also known as Vancouver 2010 (), were an international winter multi-sport event held from February 12 to 28, 2010 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with ...

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

, Lassila won gold in the aerials, getting Australia's second gold medal for the games after snowboarder

Torah Bright Torah Jane Bright (born 27 December 1986) is an Australian former professional snowboarder. She is Australia's most successful Winter Olympian, former Olympic gold and silver medalist, two time X Games gold medalist, three time US Open winner, ...

won gold in the halfpipe, also at

Cypress Mountain Cypress Mountain is a ski area in West Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, located in the southern section of Cypress Provincial Park, operated under a BC Parks Park Use Permit. The ski resort is a 30-minute drive north of downtown Vancouver, ...

. This medal was also the second gold for an Australian in the aerials at all Winter Olympic Games, after

in 2002. There was a lot of pressure and hype from the Australian press for Lassila to do well as world number one. She was in second position after the first jump of the final, before posting the highest scoring second round jump. The leader after the first jump,

Xu Mengtao Xu Mengtao (; ; born 12 July 1990) is an Olympic Champion Chinese aerial skier. She has 27 World Cup victories and an Olympic Gold. She is also the current World Cup leader and became the first Chinese woman to win an Olympic gold in the Aeri ...

, had the last jump, but scored more than 25 points below Lassila's second jump to fall down the rankings into sixth, due to a failed landing. Lassila had a combined score of 214.74, beating second placed

Li Nina Li Nina (, born January 10, 1983, in Benxi, Liaoning) is a Chinese Freestyle skiing, aerial skier who won silver at both the 2006 Winter Olympics, 2006 and 2010 Winter Olympics. She placed 5th at the Freestyle_skiing_at_the_2002_Winte ...

with 207.23 points. Australian team-mates

and Elizabeth Gardner finished 5th with 194.29 and 12th with 86.70 respectively.

2014 Winter Olympics

Lassila achieved a bronze medal in the

Freestyle Skiing Freestyle skiing is a skiing discipline comprising aerials, Mogul Skiing, moguls, Ski Cross, cross, Half-pipe skiing, half-pipe, slopestyle and big air as part of the Freestyle skiing at the Winter Olympics, Winter Olympics. It can consist of a ...

Women's Aerials event. Her jump was a quad-twisting triple somersault. If she had 'landed' it she would have been the first woman to do so, but she landed hard and 'slapped' down on her back on landing. Her score for the aerial was 72.12. Lassilas' prior jumps were scored at 95.76 and 99.22.

Return to competition

At the beginning of 2017, Lassila returned to competition in a bid to return to the Winter Olympics for 2018. On 3 February 2017 she won her first World Cup event since 2014, clinching a close fought victory ahead of Kiley McKinnon (USA) and Xu Mengtao (CHN) at Deer Valley. She then went on to obtain the second and the third World Cup wins at the end of February in Minsk and in the beginning of March 2017 in Moscow.

Awards

Apart from her sporting medals, Lassila has also received other honours and awards: * 2010

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the ...

'Athlete of the Year' * 2010 Sport Australia Hall of Fame, 'The Don' Award * 2010 Governor's Award for the Victorian Sportsperson of the Year * 2010 Victorian Female Athlete of the Year- Kitty McEwan Award * 2010 Ski and Snowboard Australia Athlete of the Year * 2023 -

inductee

Film/Television

Lydia is the subject of a feature documentary film called '' The Will To Fly'' that chronicles her life and sport pursuits. The film was released in Australia in 2016 to much critical acclaim. In 2022, Lassila joined

Seven Network Seven Network (stylised 7Network, and commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is an Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, ...

's commentary team for the

2022 Winter Olympics The 2022 Winter Olympics, officially called the XXIV Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Beijing 2022 (2022), were an international winter multi-sport event held from 4 to 20 February 2022 in Beijing, China, and surrounding areas wit ...

''Australian Survivor''

In 2018, Lassila appeared as a contestant on '' Australian Survivor: Champions vs. Contenders'', competing in the fifth season of the competitive

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...

series ''

Australian Survivor ''Australian Survivor'' is an Australian adventure reality game show based on the international ''Survivor'' format. Following the premise of other versions of the ''Survivor'' format, the show features a group of contestants, referred to as " ...

'' as part of the Champions tribe. In the beginning of the game, Lassila dominated in challenges, winning for her tribe in many instances. Lassila made very strong relationships in the game, notably with fellow contestants

Mat Rogers Mathew Steve Rogers (born 1 February 1976) is an Australian former professional rugby league and rugby union footballer who played in the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s. He played both codes at the highest level, becoming a dual-code international. He ...

and

Shane Gould Shane Elizabeth Gould (born 23 November 1956) is an Australian former competition swimmer. She won three gold medals, a silver medal and a bronze, at the 1972 Summer Olympics, becoming the first woman swimmer to win five individual medals. In 2 ...

. Come the merge, Lassila was seen as a physical threat by many contestants and was voted out in 12th place. In 2020, Lassila returned to appear on '' Australian Survivor: All Stars'', being eliminated via a fire challenge against opposing tribe member Phoebe Timmins on Day 18.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lassila, Lydia 1982 births Living people Australian female freestyle skiers Australian people of Greek Cypriot descent Australian people of Italian descent Sportspeople of Italian descent Olympic freestyle skiers for Australia Olympic gold medalists for Australia Olympic bronze medalists for Australia Freestyle skiers at the 2002 Winter Olympics Freestyle skiers at the 2006 Winter Olympics Freestyle skiers at the 2010 Winter Olympics Freestyle skiers at the 2014 Winter Olympics Freestyle skiers at the 2018 Winter Olympics Sportswomen from Victoria (state) Olympic medalists in freestyle skiing Medalists at the 2010 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2014 Winter Olympics People educated at Methodist Ladies' College, Melbourne Skiers from Melbourne Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia People from Sunshine, Victoria RMIT University alumni Survivor (franchise) contestants Participants in Australian reality television series Australian expatriates in Finland Sport Australia Hall of Fame inductees 21st-century Australian sportswomen