8 unforgettable moments from the Winter Olympics as it celebrates its centenary

Few sporting events can boast such unrelenting drama and consistent controversy as the Winter Olympics, which celebrates its 100th anniversary on Thursday.

From fearless bobsleigh pilots to sequined ice queens, cool-headed curlers and thrill-seeking snowboarders, the Games and its stars have chiselled their own unique place in the world’s sporting calendar.

Here, the PA news agency’s Olympic correspondent Mark Staniforth picks out eight of his favourite moments from the six Winter Olympics he has covered, starting with Salt Lake City in 2002.

Steven Bradbury, 2002

A surprise finish allowed Steven Bradbury to take home the gold medal and thus becoming the first Winter Olympic gold medallist from the southern hemisphere!#OlympicFirsts pic.twitter.com/ujyeIBFWq4

— The Olympic Games (@Olympics) November 14, 2021

Bradbury’s claimed Australia’s first Winter Olympic gold medal in tumultuous fashion when all four of his rivals in the men’s 1,000m short-track final crashed out on the final corner. Veteran Bradbury, competing in his fourth Games and almost half a lap behind at the time of the incident, duly picked his way through the wreckage. “Oh my God,” Bradbury recalled thinking as he crossed the line, “I think I just won.”

Rhona Martin, 2002

Great Britain’s Curling team — Rhona Martin held her nerve to lead Great Britain’s women’s curling team to gold (Tim Ockenden/PA Archive)

Lindsey Jacobellis, 2006

Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games – Day Five — Lindsey Jacobellis crashed and burned in 2006 – but finally reached the top of an Olympic podium 16 years later (Andrew Milligan/PA)

Kim Yu-na, 2010

Figure skating superstar Yuna Kim entered the Vancouver 2010 Games as a strong favorite to win the gold. And she delivered! ⛸️

Yuna became the first South Korean skater to medal in any discipline of figure skating at the Olympics. ??@Yunaaaa | @Korea_Olympic | @ISU_Figure

— The Olympic Games (@Olympics) March 11, 2021

Shimmering in a dress of cobalt blue, the brilliant South Korean figure skater lit up the Pacific Coliseum with a mesmerising and world record-breaking free skate. Kim’s performance, which earned a still unbeaten total score of 228.56, capped another dramatic and emotional women’s singles event, in which home favourite Jeannie Rochette took bronze, despite being told of the death of her mother within days of arriving in Vancouver.