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Simon Smale

@simonsmale

Write stuff for ABC Sport. Live sport nut who is honoured to have covered Beijing 2022 & Paris 2024 Olympics and is thrilled to be heading to Milan Cortina 2026. Swam from England to France with some mates in 2016. abc.net.au/news/simon-smale/10007892

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15.11.2024
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Latest posts by Simon Smale @simonsmale

It’s gunna be real popular to hammer Antonín Kinský for those two errors, but I really hope someone looks after him.

He’s only 22yo, hasn’t played since October and was thrust into a shocking Spurs team away at the Metropolitano.

To be taken off inside 16 mins is the most abject of humiliations.

10.03.2026 20:37 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Not been a bad season, all things considered…

#DomenPrevc #FISSkiJumping

07.03.2026 22:18 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Guess who's back. Shady's back, tell a friend

🇸🇮 TADEJ POGACAR FOR A RECORD FOURTH 🇮🇹 STRADE BIANCHE!

🇫🇷 Paul Seixas finishes in second with 🇲🇽 Isaac del Toro third!

07.03.2026 15:43 👍 41 🔁 3 💬 3 📌 0

She sure is. Feels like home.

04.03.2026 11:41 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Football under lights at Roots Hall. 💙 🦐

Whirlwind post-Olympics trip home complete.

04.03.2026 07:31 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
People in coats stand on the side of a field with footballers in the background.

People in coats stand on the side of a field with footballers in the background.

Hardy folk in the grey and drizzle, watching enthusiastic kids on muddy fields.

This is the lifeblood of sport, the roots that allow the elites to flourish.

01.03.2026 11:02 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Friday Night Under Lights Race in Battersea Park.

Unreal performances all round. Great atmosphere too.

27.02.2026 20:14 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Extraordinary to see a game at San Siro before it’s pulled down.

Even more extraordinary that Bodø/Glimt won it 2-1 against Inter.

24.02.2026 22:30 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Signing off from these Winter Olympics filled with pride at what our small ABC Sport team was able to achieve together.

Ciao, Livigno.

#MilanoCortina2026

24.02.2026 13:33 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
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Australia's golden Winter Games another step towards sustained excellence Australia's medal-filled 2026 Winter Olympics campaign will live long in the memory. Not as the peak of this sunburned nation's snowy achievements, though. Just the beginning.

Australia’s greatest Winter Olympics.

What an honour it has been to cover these tremendous athletes - not only over the last two weeks but in the years leading up to these Games.

🇦🇺 ❄️

#MilanoCortina2026

23.02.2026 09:55 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Closing ceremony tonight after Australia’s greatest ever Winter Olympics.

Cooper Woods and Dani Scott will carry the flag.

22.02.2026 18:25 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Indra Brown's fifth-place finish confirmation of her rapid rise Four months ago, Indra Brown had not even competed in a senior World Cup event. Her fifth-placed finish in her maiden Winter Olympics proves her meteoric rise is no fluke.

Indra Brown was disappointed in finishing fifth. But that just shows how far she’s come.

#MilanoCortina2026

22.02.2026 13:47 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Second time of asking for the women’s freeski halfpipe.

Much better conditions than last night’s blizzard.

#MilanoCortina2026

22.02.2026 09:48 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Indra Brown 'the real deal' according to defending champion Elieen Gu Australian teen Indra Brown's spectacular rise to Winter Olympic medal contender has been stunning to watch, but defending freeski champion Elieen Gu says it's not a surprise.

Australian teen Indra Brown's spectacular rise to Winter Olympic medal contender has been stunning to watch, but defending freeski champion Elieen Gu says it's not a surprise.

20.02.2026 20:08 👍 2 🔁 3 💬 1 📌 0
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Olympic final? Indra Brown's still got maths homework to do Sixteen-year-old Indra Brown came into the Winter Olympics as one of the top medal contenders in freeski halfpipe, a status elevated since she finished fourth in qualification. But it still doesn't ge...

Indra Brown’s youthful exuberance is a joy to behold, a young athlete with the world at her skis.

But only once she finishes her homework.

#MilanoCortina2026

20.02.2026 01:11 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Cassie Sharpe's horrific crash a stark reminder of Winter Olympics dangers As Cassie Sharpe lay motionless on the base of the Livigno halfpipe, the excruciating tension reminded us all that winter Olympians are only ever seconds from disaster.

It was harrowing to watch.

An athlete hitting the deck so hard that she lost consciousness, medics racing to be next to her as she started to convulse.

A reminder once more that these sports are not for the faint of heart.

#MilanoCortina2026

20.02.2026 01:08 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Also, I got to hold the medal.

🤯

18.02.2026 19:33 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Dani Scott's tears of joy a welcome balm after years of pain As anxiety builds in this most tension-filled Winter Olympic sport, it's no wonder tears are a by product of both success and failure. Thankfully for Dani Scott, this time she was crying tears of pure...

The tears flowed as Dani Scott overcame years of Olympic pain and disappointment to claim a stunning silver medal in the aerials competition today.

It was a pleasure to see her come out victorious.

#MilanoCortina2026

18.02.2026 19:32 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
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Silver for Dani. Astonishing stuff.

🇦🇺: 🥇🥇🥇🥈🥈🥉

#MilanoCortina2026

18.02.2026 17:59 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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How Australia's moguls coach almost left the system, and why he stayed With a background in mathematics and an enviable attention to detail, it would be tempting to think of Australian ski coach Peter McNiel as moguls' answer to Moneyball. The truth is far more detailed.

Had a tremendous chat with Peter McNiel yesterday.

Half an hour in and I was willing to run through a wall with him - with being the operative word there, because he’d never ask you to do something he wasn’t willing to do himself.

Pleasure to chat.

#MilanoCortina2026

18.02.2026 07:42 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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The 'nuts' way Australia's aerial skiers prepare for delays Delays are nothing new in skiing events, with weather and light a constant battle for event organisers. However, the Australian aerials team has an unusual method to handle the disruption.

Patience is a virtue.

Australia’s aerial skiers will have to show plenty of it as the weather causes chaos in Livigno.

#MilanCortina2026

17.02.2026 18:51 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
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This Olympic legend's acts of selflessness earned him a rare award As Bree Walker aims to create Olympic history in the women's monobob, she will do so on a track named after a man who made history of his own through one of the Winter Games' most selfless acts.

Bree Walker wasn’t able to write her own happy Olympic story in Cortina.

But the man whose name adorns that track, Eugenio Monti, has one hell of a story to tell.

#MilanoCortina2026

17.02.2026 00:30 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Last man standing: When Steven Bradbury shocked the world In 2002, Australia broke its Winter Olympics gold medal duck in the most extraordinary of ways, as Steven Bradbury put a decade of injury and bad luck behind him to claim the most thrilling of gold medals.

In 2002, Australia broke its Winter Olympics gold medal duck in the most extraordinary of ways, as Steven Bradbury put a decade of injury and bad luck behind him to claim the most thrilling of gold medals.

15.02.2026 18:38 👍 1 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 1
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'How the hell' does Australia dominate moguls? The answer is no secret To the surprise of many, the "beach nation" that is Australia is the best moguls skiing nation on earth. How the team got there is no accident.

How is Australia so good at moguls skiing?

It’s a combination of coaching, culture and a surprisingly large pool of talent.

#MilanoCortina2026

17.02.2026 00:24 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Livigno's idylic quality enhanced as snow stops play Livigno is an Italian outlier in more ways than one. With special tax status and a fairytale quality, the town had a phenomenal dumping of snow that caused a significant shuffling of events.

Bit of snow today. It turned this alpine paradise into something even greater.

#MilanoCortina2026 #Livigno

16.02.2026 17:19 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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What a fun day.

🥇 🥇 🥇 🥈 🥉

#MilanoCortina2026

15.02.2026 23:12 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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These medals are really adding up…

🇦🇺: 🥇🥇🥇🥈🥉

#MilanoCortina2026

15.02.2026 12:23 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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How 'mortified' Jakara Anthony went from a fall to a second gold medal As Jakara Anthony dealt with the disappointment of her singles moguls crash, her coach Peter McNiel was working out how to pick her back up.

As Jakara Anthony dealt with the disappointment of her singles moguls crash, her coach Peter McNiel was working out how to pick her back up.

15.02.2026 00:48 👍 4 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
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Jakara Anthony's redemptive arc leads her to Olympic immortality Jakara Anthony stared down adversity, swallowed back her pain, and delivered a performance for the ages to become Australia's greatest Winter Olympian.

Winning an Olympic gold is hard.

Bouncing back from a crushing disappointment is also hard.

Doing the latter to achieve the former puts Jakara Anthony on a rare level of brilliance as Australia’s first ever two-time Winter Olympic champion.

#MilanoCortina2026

14.02.2026 20:19 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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What (another) amazing day.

Australian medal tally: 🥇🥇🥇🥈

#MilanoCortina2026

14.02.2026 18:11 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0