Dale Begg-Smith

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Olympic medal record
Men's freestyle skiing
Gold	2006 Turin	Moguls

Dale Begg-Smith (born January 18, 1985 in Vancouver, Canada) is a freestyle skier. Begg-Smith won the gold medal for his adopted country Australia in the men's moguls event at the 2006 Winter Olympics held in Turin, Italy. He is only the third Australian to win a gold medal in a Winter Games. In the lead-up to the 2006 Winter Games, Dale Begg-Smith had won three World Cup rounds and was ranked world number one in the moguls discipline.

Begg-Smith is also a multi-millionaire entrepreneur. He is alleged to be associated with AdsCPM and CPM Media with his older brother Jason, who also competes for Australia in mogul skiing, finishing 29th at the 2006 Winter Games. The brothers originally got involved in IT business to help fund their skiing careers. A number of computer security companies have advisories about the companies, indicating that they distribute browser-hijackers and spyware. [1][2] Begg-Smith has been reluctant to talk to the media about them following his gold medal win, stating that their business was technology and it was up to ad customers to decide what type of ads they wished to run. [3]

Begg-Smith was skiing for his native Canada as a teenager when his coaches told him he was spending too much time on his fledgling business, and not enough time in training. He subsequently quit the Canadian ski program because it clashed with his business interests and, along with his brother Jason, moved to Australia at age 15. The brothers chose to ski for Australia because the country had a smaller ski program that offered them more attention and flexibility. This ensured that they could still successfully manage their business. The brothers stayed out of competitive skiing for three years and instead trained with the Australian team, living in Jindabyne each winter. The pair qualified for Australian citizenship after these three years in 2003-04, and were then free to compete for their adopted country.

Alisa Monk, co-ordinator of the moguls program says that she books Begg-Smith's hotels and flights economically, despite his wealth. "Wherever the team stays, he stays. There are certainly no big demands. You wouldn't know he had a bit of money". She also said "When he is at Perisher he stays in the same hut as the other mogul skiers and his brother which is small and old and almost falling down", and that "He just doesn't try to stand out at all." ^[1]

On 21 February 2006 Australia Post issued a postage stamp commemorating Begg-Smith's achievement, saying his gold put him in a "small and honoured group of athletes". ^[2]

[edit] References

^ MX: "The Mouse who Roared" (Quiet Achiever infobox). February 16, 2006
^ Australia Post: "Australia Post to release Dale Begg-Smith gold medallist stamp". Retrieved March 27, 2006.