The character arc of Steven Bradbury
A life drawn by Character Arc from the public record
Born on 14 October 1973 in Australia. Between then and now sit a world championship relay won in Sydney in 1991, a team crash at the 1992 Games while he sat as reserve, Australia's first Winter Olympic medal in 1994, a blade through his right thigh later that year and 111 stitches, collisions that ended both his individual events in 1998, a broken neck in September 2000 and doctors who said he would not skate again, and the 1,000 metres gold at the 2002 Winter Olympics. The line below draws the story so far, in order.
Tap the line to pluck it. Hover or tap any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of his life; the sources are at the foot of the page.
Who is Steven Bradbury?
A broken neck at twenty six, and gold at twenty eight.
In 1991 he was part of the Australian quartet that won the five thousand metre relay at the world championships in Sydney, the country's first world title in a winter sport. He went to the 1992 Games as a world champion and watched from the bench as the team crashed in the semi-finals: he had been named reserve and was not entered in any individual event. At the 1994 Games in Norway the relay team took bronze, the first Winter Olympic medal Australia had ever won. His own individual races that year were both ended by other people knocking him over.
Later in 1994, at a World Cup meeting in Montreal, another skater's blade went through his right thigh in a collision and out the other side. All four quadriceps muscles were cut through and he lost four litres of blood, with his heart rate near two hundred. It took a hundred and eleven stitches, he could not move the leg for three weeks and the leg took eighteen months to come back. At the 1998 Games he was a medal contender again and was taken out by collisions in both events. In September 2000 another skater fell in front of him in training, he tried to jump and clipped him, and he went head first into the barriers, fracturing two vertebrae in his neck. He spent six weeks in a halo brace with pins in his skull and plates bolted to his back and chest. Doctors told him he would not skate again.
He went to a fourth Games anyway, knowing he was past his best. In the quarter-final he finished third and thought he was out, and then advanced because a rival was disqualified. From the semi-final on, with his coach, he adopted a plan he stated openly: stay behind, stay out of trouble, and let the risk-takers take the risks. In the semi-final the field fell. In the final, the last four skaters went down on the final corner, and he crossed the line first. It is remembered as the luckiest gold medal in Olympic history. It was also won by the only man in that final who had already been sewn back together twice.
The moments
Steven Bradbury's timeline.
The 1970s
Born in Australia
Everyday. A winter sport, in a country with almost no winter.
The 1990s
A world title in Sydney
Milestone, and it changed everything. Seventeen, and a world champion in a sport his country barely had.
He watches from the bench
Setback, and it changed his direction. A world champion, sitting on a bench, watching it go wrong.
The first medal
Milestone, and it changed everything. His country's first winter medal, and both his own races ended by other people.
A blade through the thigh
Setback, and it changed everything. A hundred and eleven stitches, and eighteen months to walk properly again.
Taken out again
Setback, and it changed his direction. A third Games, and both races ruined by contact again.
The 2000s
He breaks his neck
Setback, and it changed everything. A broken neck at twenty six, and a doctor telling him that was the end.
Back on the ice
Milestone, and it changed everything. He went back knowing he could not win it on speed.
Try for a fourth Games
Crossroads, decided.
The paths laid out: go back anyway, taken, or retire on the bronze. He won the thousand metres at the 2002 Winter Olympics, his country's first Winter Olympic gold.
The last corner
Milestone, and it changed everything. Everybody in front of him went down, and he was still upright.
Australia has never stopped telling the joke, and he tells it better than anybody. What it has set moving is the serious version underneath the punchline: he was there on that last corner because he had come back from a hundred and eleven stitches and a broken neck, and the only skaters who get lucky are the ones still on the ice.
Your turn
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His was written off twice by doctors and finished with a gold medal at the fourth attempt. Yours is already further along than you think, and drawing it takes about five minutes.
Steven Bradbury: frequently asked questions
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More character arcs
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Sources
- Steven Bradbury, English Wikipedia biography, filed under living people.
- Olympic records for the 1994, 1998 and 2002 Winter Games short-track events.
- World Championships records, five thousand metre relay, Sydney 1991.