Meet Matt Graham.
At the age of just 19, Matt made his Olympic debut in Moguls at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games. Graham came agonisingly close to making the super-final in Sochi, finishing just 0.01 of a point behind American Patrick Deneen in Final 2, placing him seventh in the world. Graham had enjoyed a strong lead up to Sochi, finishing fourth at the 2013 World Championships in Voss, Norway and seventh at the Sochi Test Event. As a junior in 2009 he got the opportunity to train with his hero Dale Begg-Smith and the pair competed together in Sochi.
We sat down with Matt to learn more about the sport, and also about his journey to Olympic success...
Tell us about your Olympic experience...
My Olympic experience was pretty much everything I expected. It still only feels like yesterday when I first arrived into Sochi on the 31st of January 2014! The most memorable and exciting experience for me would be the period of time from our first training day up until the competition day. The nerves and butterflies started about 5 or so days before our event and they rarely left until I finished my first competition run!
I can’t really explain the feeling to be honest.
How did you get into the sport?
Perisher is my home mountain. I learnt to ski here when I was three years old and I plan to be skiing here for as long as I physically can! I got my first taste of Mogul Skiing when I joined the weekend Perisher Winter Sports Club program back in 2002.
What are some of the best memories you’ve got from Perisher's Winter Sports Club?
The first thing that comes to mind is when I landed my first straight 1080 in a moguls course when I was 11 years old one afternoon after we finished a NSW Junior Series competition.
Also I would say all the friends I have made over the years who I still ski and train with today. They are some of my closest friends and I’ll never forget the days when we were tearing up Perisher as little groms!
What are the most unexpected things involved with this sport?
Mogul Skiing is very spontaneous, everything is happening so fast and it really comes down to being able to react properly and at the right time. How your body reacts to certain situations can be the difference between having a great run or ending up on your face before you can blink.
What goes through your head in the lead up to a competition?
When I am competing I don’t like to think about my run. I prefer to keep a pretty open mind and be relaxed, because when the time comes, I trust that my instincts will take over and I will be able to execute the ‘game plan’.
For me, staying in the present time is key. There is nothing more off-putting and nerve-racking than thinking about any sort of outcome and ‘how you could or could not go’.
What was your breakout moment when you realised you wanted to ski moguls for a living?
I remember when I was eight years old, our family just arrived home from our first time skiing overseas in Canada, and my mum woke me up half way through a dream in the morning after we arrived home.
I remember the first thing I said to her in a sleepy tone was that “I just want to be the best skier in the world”. Ever since that moment I think I knew that mogul skiing was what I was going to do and be good at.
Recovering from injury is a long process, how do you stay focused on the big goal?
Injuries are just part of sport. They are hard deal with but they aren’t only a negative thing. When I have been injured you feel like you lose a little bit of your kinesthetic sense, but I don’t think takes long at all to come back.
If I am injured I like to make the most of the time at home and recharge my batteries for when I return. Time away from your passion I believe only increases your desire to return better and stronger!
Who did you look up to when you were starting out?
I think my biggest inspiration in my sporting career has been my older brother Dave. I think he pretty much paved the way for me to be successful and I was fortunate enough to learn from his mistakes.
I was always the little brother chasing him in anything we did and I think that he had a huge impact on my progression at an early age.
Who do you look up to now?
I still look up to my brother a lot and we can talk about skiing for hours. I would also say that Dale Begg-Smith has had a large influence on my later career.
He has been a mentor for me ever since I was 14 years old and I hope to one day follow in his foot-steps and bring home a gold medal for Australia in the moguls!
In the summer months, how do you maintain the focus and motivation for a winter sport?
Summer months?? We chase the winter! Now at the level I am at, I need to be on the road up to 8 months of the year to continue to push the top athletes in the world and hopefully get ahead of them.
Leaving your family and friends to train and compete overseas, tell us what that’s like…
It can be hard at first, but you get used to it. I think it is probably a lot easier these days with the internet and being able to stay in touch with everyone on a daily basis.
When you’ve got mates visiting here in Perisher, what’s the first run you take them to and why?
Well it depends on their level of skiing I guess. My favourite run is either the ‘Rock Garden’ at Blue Cow, or ‘Olympic’ at Mt Perisher. Mainly because they have some sweet natural booters which are super fun to session on a powder day!
You grew up sailing and doing a bunch of different sports, how did this influence your skiing career?
I think being an all-rounded athlete makes a difference in being ‘great’ at a particular sport. I grew up sailing dinghy’s competitively at state and national levels where I when four national titles and six state titles in a junior class. It got to a point where I had to choose and I think it really could have gone either way, but I have never thought I made the wrong choice that’s for sure!
Where do you see Moguls as a sport headed?
I think moguls will be up for some pretty big changes in the next five or so years. I think it is only a matter of time until they change the specs of the course to having bigger jumps and allow double flips/corks into the sport.
As far as tricks are concerned, the sport is pretty much maxed out at the moment with a back double-full (backflip 720), and a cork 1080 so I think that will be the biggest change in the future.
Is the lifestyle of an Olympic skier what people think?
I think so haha! Lots of training, hard work, travelling and a bunch of good times!
When you look back on your career, what do you want people to remember you for?
Hopefully an Olympic medal or two! I always try to be a good role model to the younger kids. I like to help them out if they ever want some tips or anything.
I know that I looked up to the likes of Dale Begg-Smith, Nick Fisher and Michael Robertson when they all represented Australia in the 2006 Olympics and I used to get a kick out of it when they said just a simple 'g-day'.
You’ve traveled a fair bit as a result of your career, where’s your favourite location and why?
My favourite place on Earth is home! As lame as it sounds, when I am travelling and training or competing it is all business. But when I come home I have the luxury of living on the coast and getting in the water for a surf, wakeboard or windsurf.
If you weren’t an Olympic Mogul skier, what would you be doing?
I think I would probably be an Olympic Sailor. When I was a kid I thought it would be possible to represent Australia at the Olympic Games in Sailing and Skiing, so I probably would have just continued the life of a sailor!
What’s some advice you can give young athletes who want to be where you are now?
I think if you want to be a successful athlete, having a vision of yourself representing Australia in your sport or whatever you want to be when you are older can make all the difference.
I remember having this vision when I was probably seven or eight. And I like to call it a ‘vision’ rather than having ‘a dream’ because to me it wasn’t a dream at all. It was already a reality and I knew it was going to happen.
What was the best advice you were given, and who was it from?
‘To be a champion, you have to act like one’
My coach told me this and it really impacted the way I viewed myself out on the hill training but also off the hill.