Australia’s first indigenous Olympian

PYEONGCHANG: It was by accident that Australia’s first Aboriginal Winter Olympian Harley Windsor discovered figure skating, and he has never looked back.

When his mother took a wrong turn in suburban Sydney the then curious eight-year-old stumbled across an unlikely sports theatre in a country known for its sweltering temperatures: an ice rink.

“I thought it was really cool and liked it,” Windsor, now 21, told

after a recent performance at the Four Continents championships in Taiwan.

Skating once a week turned into twice a week and he was soon getting serious.

“For the first few years I didn’t think it was going to be a sport that would really stick. I thought I was just doing it for fun,” he said, reflecting on his early years.

“Maybe (at the age of) 15 was when I started to be like, ‘I really like this sport. I’m sort of getting half decent at it’.”

A growth spurt in his early teens meant Winsor’s height made him better suited to pairs skating, but one problem persisted: a dearth of female skating partners Down Under.

Keen to keep him in the sport, his Russian-born coaches began a search for someone suitable.

They tracked down Moscowbased Ekaterina Alexandrovskaya, who had been overlooked by the Russian system and, after a trial, she agreed to switch countries and received her Australian citizenship last year.

Speaking different languages was no barrier and the pair were crowned world junior champions last season, claiming Australia’s first global figure skating title and getting the nod for the Olympics in Pyeongchang.

“On ice we’re very business oriented. We both know what we have to do and what we don’t have to do,” Windsor said of his partnership with 18-year-old Alexandrovskaya.

Spending most of his time last year training in Moscow with some of the world’s top skaters has been a blessing for his development but a significant lifestyle adjustment.

For the moment, Australia’s first indigenous Winter Olympian is not placing too much pressure on himself, and will be content with a top 12 finish at his first Games.

“Realistically we’re not there to win a medal just yet. We’re still a super-young team and we’ve got a lot to develop,” he said.