Athlete profile: Zali Steggall

Posted: Tue February 3, 1998 at 5:00 PM ET

Athlete notes

Hailing from the city that will host the 2000 Summer Olympics, the woman from the Land Down Under turned the skiing world upside down by winning the opening slalom of the 1997-98 World Cup season in Park City, Utah...skiing out of the 23rd position, Steggall's triumph made her the first Australian woman to win a World Cup race and the first Australian period since Steven Lee won a Super G in the early 1980s... "I didn't come here expecting to win," said Steggall after her historic triumph. "I wasn't as presumptuous as to hope for that much. But I felt really solid with my technique because I have been training with [New Zealander] Claudia Riegler, the Austrians, and the Germans (in Colorado for two weeks early in the season). It is marvelous and incomparable. World Cup is the place where you prove your consistency and develop your skills. It's good to see the result of my hard work"...German superstar Katja Seizinger, the 1996 World Cup overall titlist, added, "We felt like she was one of ours because she was with us so long. We are all very happy for her"...Steggall and Riegler will attempt to duplicate the feat of New Zealander Anneliese Coberger (ann-AH-lee-sah, COH-ber-ger), who in 1992 won a silver in the slalom becoming the first Southern Hemisphere skier to win an Olympic medal...not a newcomer to World Cup skiing -- she competed at both Albertville and Lillehammer -- Steggall has undergone significant changes over the past two years..."I changed to Salomon (skis) two years ago and I changed my trainer to (Austrian) Helmut Spiegel in May," says Steggall. "I knew I had all the equipment to be there (the victory stand) but I didn't believe in myself"...US women's head coach Herwig Demschar gives much of the credit to Kiwi Riegler..."She (Steggall) had pretty good results two years ago, but I am surprised she is so strong this year," says Demschar. "Training with Claudia rubbed off on her. Claudia's probably sorry she did that because now Zali's beating her"...Steggall owes her skiing background to a childhood spent in the French Alps, where she lived between the ages of four and 14... "My parents planned to go there (to France) for a couple of years," says Steggall in explaining her unique upbringing. "They wanted to be more than tourists, to get a real taste of the culture and to learn the language. It turned out to be more like ten (years). My father took an early retirement and my parents did not work for those ten years"...she returned to Australia twice during her decade in France..."I went when I was six and eight to see my grandparents," recounts Steggall. "I was like a tourist in Australia"...living in the Haute Savoie province, Steggall took up skiing and trained as a junior in the French program...not having French nationality, though, Steggall was unable to compete in regional competitions in France...her family did finally return to Australia in 1988 -- "My parents wanted to return to work and also to finish my studies," she says...her father, John, is an advocate (lawyer) while her mother, Sue, does sculpture...1988 was also Zali's last "real" summer..."My first year of competition was from January 1989," says Steggall. "I've been competing an Australian and a European season since then"...she competed in three events -- the giant slalom, slalom, and combined -- in the past two Winter Games but drew no attention at either..."I've been number one in Australia from a really early age so I was able to compete at Albertville and Lillehammer," points out Steggall, who was only 17 when she made a returned to her breeding ground of sorts for the Olympics in France. "But I've learned my lesson. I'm only doing the slalom in Nagano. The slalom was always my best"...Steggall credits much of her improvement to an influx of financial support for winter sports in Australia, which has resulted in the establishment of an Australian ski institute to instruct and support fledgling alpine, freestyle, and nordic ski athletes..."I had no sponsor with Australia four years ago and I had to train with the French team," describes Steggall of the lean years. "But they started a program four years ago, an Australian ski institute to develop skiing for alpine and freestyle. The image of Australia is of summer sports but for the Nagano Games, there's a move to encourage winter sports. I think it'll really help the development of the sport in Australia"...still, without an teammates to speak of -- Steggall is the only member of Australia's alpine "A" team -- she is forced to lead a rather nomadic existence, living much of the year in Innsbruck, Austria..."It's really hard to be alone all the time," says Steggall of her solitary status. "I don't get to go home between November and March. It's not easy. I haven't seen them (her parents) for a long time. They follow me from far away. You need to make friends on the other team. My joining up with other teams is more for the loneliness factor than anything else"...Zali's worldly experiences have left her multilingual if nothing else...in addition to speaking her native tongue and fluent French, she can "manage in German," which she studied at school...when in Australia, Steggall trains at Mt. Bullard...Zali has one older brother, 26 year-old Zeke, who stopped skiing when he was 15 but switched to snowboarding; he now competes on the International Snowboarding Federation (ISF) circuit..."My parents names are so ordinary, John and Sue, that they wanted to do something else," replies Zali when asked about the originality of her and her brother's names. "I think the zeds (z's) are accidental"...a fifth-generation Australian -- "My ancestors were probably convicts," she jokes -- Zali is studying communications via correspondence...Australia won its first Olympic medal in 1994, as the men's short track speed skating relay took a bronze medal home...