Zali Steggall

Steggall came 22nd out of 28 athletes in the slalom and 24th and last in the giant slalom.

She withdrew from the super-G and was unplaced in the overall standings.

She came 23rd out of 44 entries in the giant slalom event, and failed to finish the slalom or the combined event.

Zali Steggall (born 16 April 1974) is an Australian politician, lawyer and former Winter Olympic athlete.

Steggall was born in Manly, New South Wales, in 1974.

She and her family lived in France from 1978 until 1989, and she started ski racing while living there, at the ski resort of Morzine in the French Alps.

Her parents had intended to stay for only 18 months, but they liked the lifestyle so much that they stayed.

Her mother, Dr. Susan Steggall, documented these ten years in the book ''Alpine Beach.

A Family Adventure''.

Steggall won European age championships at the ages of 10 and 13, and was a member of the French junior skiing team at the age of 14.

Steggall was educated for 18 months in Sydney at Queenwood School for Girls following the family's return to Australia in 1989.

Steggall's grandfather Jack Steggall played ten Tests for Australia in rugby union, and her father played rugby for Northern Suburbs, Manly Rugby Club and Manly Lifesavers.

Her brother is Olympic snowboarder Zeke Steggall.

Despite moving back to Australia, the Steggall siblings regularly travelled to the northern hemisphere to train.

She was also sent overseas by the Australian Ski Institute to train under Austrian alpine coach Helmut Spiegl.

Steggall's Olympic career extended from Albertville in 1992 to Salt Lake City in 2002.

After her Olympic career, Steggall completed a law degree and began working as a solicitor, and then as a barrister.

Steggall was selected to make her Olympic debut in Albertville in 1992, at the age of 17.

At the 1994 Olympics in Lillehammer, the size of the field was reduced.

In December 1995, Steggall broke into the top 10 in a World Cup event for the first time, placing 10th in the slalom event at Sankt Anton.

In January 1996, Steggall came fourth at the World Championships in Sestriere, Italy, missing bronze by just 0.04 s.

Steggall is Australia's most internationally successful alpine skier, winning a bronze medal in slalom at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, and a World Championship gold medal in 1999.

In the Winter Olympics she is Australia's first individual medallist, first female medallist, and only medallist in alpine skiing.

Steggall came into the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano as one of the medal favourites.

Three months earlier, she had become the first Australian woman to win a World Cup event in alpine skiing, after winning the slalom event at Park City, Utah.

She posted the fastest time in both of her runs to win by 0.76sec.

She then came fifth, sixth and tenth in the next three World Cup events to be ranked sixth in the world.

Steggall won a Europa Cup event at Piancavallo.

She won Australia's first individual Winter Olympic medal with a bronze in slalom skiing at Nagano in 1998.

Her time of 1 m 32.67 s was 0.27 s behind the winner.

In December, Steggall placed second in a World Cup event at Mammoth Mountain, missing the gold medal by 0.01 s to Anja Pärson.

She had earlier placed seventh at Park City.

Steggall's success prompted the Australian Olympic Committee to expand the Australian Ski Institute into the Olympic Winter Institute of Australia.

It was given a million-dollar annual budget and for the first time, Australia had a federal government-funded full-time training program to accompany the Australian Institute of Sport.

It operated in six sports and supported 37 athletes and resulted in an immediate upturn in results, with numerous athletes going on to win gold for Australia across the winter sport disciplines.

In 1999, Steggall won the slalom event at the World Championships held in Vail, Colorado, in the United States, her last podium finish at a global level.

In February 2000, she came 10th at Aare, Sweden, the last top 10 result in her career.

Steggall also became involved in several NGOs, including serving as director of the Sport Australia Hall of Fame from 2014 to 2019.

She has been the independent member for Warringah since the 2019 Australian federal election when she defeated the incumbent, former Prime Minister Tony Abbott.

At the 2019 federal election, Steggall ran as an independent candidate and won the seat, and increased her margin at the 2022 federal election.