“There were just a lot of unknowns,” the 27-year-old said.
“We didn’t really know how certain things were going to go, but I feel like we built really well throughout the day, and I have so many people believing in me, helping me get that belief in myself. By the end, I was pretty sure I was going to give it my best shot and put down some runs that I’m real proud of.”
As if what these athletes were putting themselves through wasn’t devilishly difficult enough, the format added yet another layer of pressure.
In duals, the task is exactly the same as single moguls, except instead of beating the rest of the field, you’ve got to beat the person you’re drawn against, who flies down the other side of the track simultaneously.
It’s a race, but time isn’t the only factor; judges also score turns and jumps, meaning the fastest skier doesn’t always win. If one crashes and the other doesn’t, the result is clear. If both crash, it’s then about whose run was affected the least.
“You’ve got to have a bit of awareness [of] what’s going on beside you, know when you need to push a little more,” Anthony said. “There’s a little bit more strategy to it.”
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Beyond the head-to-head battle factor, it is more physically and mentally gruelling: the whole tournament was ripped through in the space of an hour and a half, with a field of 30 whittled down to two finals to decide the medals. That means quick turnarounds, which are hard on the body, but probably better for the mind, since there is less time to stew on emotions.
This was boxing on snow, and amid snow, complete with a Michael Buffer equivalent on the loudspeakers. “Blue course ready! Red course ready!” he shouted before every match-up. Then they rumbled down to the bottom.
Like fighters trying to claim victory by flexing their muscles to the crowd before the judges’ cards are revealed, some skiers tried to sell their performance by fist-pumping as they crossed the line, as if to convince everyone that they’d done enough. While awaiting the official scores, both skiers are shown on the big screen; all that was missing was a referee to hold the winner’s arm up.
There was even a hint of a possible judging scandal at the end. France’s Perrine Laffont couldn’t believe she missed out on a medal after a contentious one-point defeat to Lemley.
Anthony, who was in the ‘blue corner’ for the final against the USA’s Jaelin Kauf, has never boxed before, but she can see the parallels.
“Red, blue, one-on-one. I guess there’s a couple,” she laughed.
The red, for the record, was actually clearly pink, as her coach Peter McNiel agreed. And therein lay an omen.
“I actually love that it’s pink,” he said. “And the best thing is … [her] skis are a custom Jakara Anthony signature model, and the colours are pink and blue, too. I think it was fitting for the situation.”
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The blokes get their turn on Sunday (10.30pm AEDT), where newly-crowned champion Cooper Woods will have a chance to double-up in the duals. If he can, he’ll be the first Australian to do so at a Winter Olympics.
Picking a favourite gold medal must be like choosing a favourite child. Anthony couldn’t do it, but she could recognise that the contours of each journey were distinctly different. This one is undeniably sweet.
“First Olympic gold medal in Beijing, that was mind-blowing,” she said.
“And this is mind-blowing as well, to have my friends and family here for it, to be the first-ever dual mogul gold medal at the Olympics given out, to be the first Australian to have two gold medals, to have been able to overcome the adversity of the other day and bounce back and put down that performance.
“This one’s just special for a whole lot of other reasons.”
The Winter Olympic Games is broadcast on the 9Network, 9Now and Stan Sport.
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