Lydia Lassila, you are our inspiration.
You have done the western suburbs proud with your brave performances at the Sochi Olympics.
Lassila was the talk of coffee shops across the west on Saturday morning after claiming a bronze medal in the ladies aerials.
The 32-year-old is more than a dual Olympic medallist, she is a ground breaker.
The former Footscray City Gymnastics Club member set a goal of becoming the first woman to attempt an in-competition quad twisting triple somersault.
The degree of difficulty was out of this world, but Lassila was not going to die wondering.
“I was always going to go into these Olympics with that approach, all or nothing,” she told Channel 10 after the super final.
“I’m the first woman to do the full-double-full-full.
“I set out to do this trick 15 years ago when I saw my first world cup at Mt Buller in Australia and that was in 1999.
“I saw the guys doing these amazing triples and I said one day I’m going to do it.
“Fifteen years later, I did it, and I’m super happy.”
Lassila entered the super final with the second best score of the qualifiers.
Reaching the last four was an achievement in itself after an knee injury at training rocked her preparation.
Nothing was going to stop Lassila from competing and excuses were out.
“Right now I know I’ve left my mark,” she said.
“I’ve reached my potential.
“It’d be great to always do more, but that was a maximum effort from me today and I couldn’t have done any better.”
The surprise packet of the final was Belarusian Alla Tsuper.
The veteran had the smoothest landing of the final on the back of a back-full-full-full jump and scored 98.01 to claim the gold medal.
China’s Li Nina attempted a back double-full double-full, a difficult jump and botched the landing, scoring just 46.02.
Four years ago, Lassila won gold at the Vancouver Olympics, and she again had gold on her mind at the top of the hill in this final leap.
Under her fluro yellow glasses cut a steely look, nothing indicating the nerves of a woman about to go where no other had gone before.
With her arms outstretched initially, then crouched into a low aerodynamic position for speed on descent, Lassila perhaps hit the ramp with too much speed.
She ticked all the technical boxes, but drifted slightly in the air and it played havoc with her landing.
“There’s nothing Lydia could have done more to save that jump,” Olympic gold medallist and expert TV commentator Alisa Camplin said.
“It’s an exceptionally difficult jump.
“I actually believe she had too much speed or potentially she had a bit of tail wind that carried her the extra bit down the hill.”
The judges gave Lassila 72.12 – a guaranteed podium finish.
“I’m very happy with my performance,” she said.
“It would’ve been great to land that jump, but I was stretching for my life and I just couldn’t get there.
“I’m happy for Alla, she’s a really good friend of mine and she’s also a mum.
“She’s a great girl and I’m proud of her as well.”
Whether it was a silver or a bronze was up to the final competitor, China’s Xu Mengtao.
Xu approached her back-lay double-full-full more cautiously and lost momentum and a gold medal in the process.
Xu still did enough to pip Lassila for silver with a score of 83.50.
Lassila, who grew up in Sunshine and Diggers Rest and went to school at Westbourne Grammar, now has an Olympic gold and a bronze to her name.
She will not rule out a crack at a third Olympic Games.
Sochi Olympics
Ladies aerials super final
Alla Tsuper (Belarus) 98.01. Gold.
Xu Mengtao (China) 83.50. Silver.
Lydia Lassila (Australia) 72.12. Bronze.
Li Nina (China) 46.02.
