Figure skater Harley Windsor has been named to Australia's figure skating team for the Pyeongchang Olympics. He will be the first Aboriginal athlete ever to represent Australia at a Winter Games.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo
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Harley Windsor, 21, became Australia's first indigenous Winter Olympian on Thursday when the Australian Winter Olympic team named its first four athletes for next year's Games in Pyeongchang.
"It feels like an amazing and mind-blowing accomplishment to have been named as Australia's first indigenous Winter Olympic athlete," said Windsor, who was raised in western Sydney and is of Aboriginal decent.
"I grew up in the Aboriginal community and have always been around Aboriginal culture," he said, "so it's been a huge part of my life and something that I'm very proud of."
Matt Carroll, head of the Australian Olympic Committee, said his selection was a "historical day" for the Olympics in Australia.
We hope that he provides inspiration to young indigenous athletes that they can follow in his path and compete at a high level in winter sports," Carroll said.
Windsor and his 17-year-old Russian-Australian figure skating partner, Ekaterina Alexandrovskaya, secured an Olympic spot in late September when they captured a bronze medal in a qualifying competition in Germany. They also won the gold at the World Junior Figure Skating Championships in Tapei City in March.
Australia has had 51 athletes participate at various Summer Olympic Games but none in any Winter Games. One Aboriginal athlete, Cathy Freeman, ignited the Olympic cauldron at the opening ceremonies of the 2000 Sydney Olympics before capturing gold in the 400-meter dash.
"She was such ... a great inspiration for me when I was young," Windsor said. "I hope I can give other young indigenous athletes some inspiration that they are able to get to the highest level in winter Olympic sports just like we've done in summer sports."
Olympic flame arrives in South Korea
As tensions on the Korean peninsula continue to escalate, the arrival of the Olympic flame in South Korea offers a ray of hope for peace. We are now just 100 days away from the Winter Olympics.
Image: Reuters/A. Konstantinidis
Getting into the Olympic swing
A man performs during the Olympic Torch Relay at Incheon Bridge on November 1. The Olympic flame arrived in South Korea on Wednesday, where it will be passed throughout the country by thousands of torchbearers on a 100-day journey to the opening ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/L. Jin-Man
A message of peace and hope
South Korean prime minister Lee Nak-yon holds the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics torch during a torch relay. The message on Wednesday was one of peace and hope. The flame arrives at a time of heightened tensions over North Korea's nuclear and missile programs. "The Games have the power to bring the world together," organizing chief Lee Hee-beom said.
Image: Getty Images/C. Sung-Jun
Incheon to get on with it
The first of 7,500 torchbearers was South Korean figure skater You Young, pictured here receiving the torch from PM Lee Nak-yon. The 13-year-old said: "It is my dream to represent my country at an Olympic Winter Games and I am working hard to make that dream a reality very soon. I'll remember this day forever." You was the country's youngest national champion aged 11.
Image: Getty Images/C. Sung-Jun
Off we go
You Young became the first torch bearer on the flame's journey. Robots, cable cars, steam locomotives and zip wires are some of the methods of transportation that will take the torch along its 2,018 km path through nine provinces and eight major cities before arriving in Pyeongchang, 180 km (115 miles) east of Seoul.
Image: Getty Images/C. Sung-Jun
No Pyongyang in PyeongChang?
South Korean Sports Minister Do Jong-hwan (C) at a ceremony in Seoul in September unveiling the design of medals to be awarded at the Games, which will feature about 3,000 athletes from 95 NOCs. There has been no confirmation if North Korea plans to take part. The International Olympic Committee is eager to have North Korean athletes at the Games, though few meet the qualifying standard.
Image: picture-alliance/Yonhap
The spirit lives
Greek actress Katerina Lehou, playing the role of High Priestess with the flame on the torch during the Olympic flame lighting ceremony for the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics. The flame was flown in from Athens following a handover ceremony at the Panathenaic Stadium, which hosted the first modern Games in 1896.
