Olympic Fever Hits WHS!
Have you ever got your hands on a real Olympic medal?
Wangaratta High School
This week, WHS students and staff have had the amazing opportunity to see and hold a silver Olympic medal!
At the London 2012 Olympics, Brittany Broben was the youngest athlete on the 410 strong Australian Olympic Team. 16-year-old Brittany showed remarkable poise to block out the pressures of Olympic competition and bring home silver in the 10m platform event. After a solid first dive, Broben put together three strong dives before only scoring 57.75 on her fifth attempt. While a similar score on her last dive could have relegated her to last in the twelve strong field, Broben bounced back to nail her Back 2 1/2 Somersault 1 1/2 Twists Pike, scoring 81.60 to win a well-deserved silver medal!!
For the 2024 Paris Olympics, Brittany has been appointed as a mentor for the Australian Skateboarding team and has formed a close bond with the incredibly talented, Chloe Covell. Skate Australia brought Brittany on board as a chaperone following new safeguarding measures designed to help support the young skaters in the team through the world of elite sport and contest environments. It’s easy to see why Brittany was the ideal fit for the position, as her diving career began when she was just 11 years old and five short years later, was when she brought home the medal that we have been lucky enough to see.
Brittany is now the lovely partner of Ms Wealands’ nephew and graciously offered for her medal to be shown to the WHS community. Students and staff were in awe of being able to hold an actual Olympic medal and everyone commented on the size and heaviness of the medal. Some classes watched a clip of Brittany’s brilliant dive and were very impressed by her efforts, especially at the age of 16.
WHS would like to sincerely thank Brittany for giving our students and staff this joyful experience, we truly appreciate it.
Tyler Martin, Savannah Williams & Kaleb Pay from the Inclusion Hub.
9E with Ms Wealands loved having the chance to hold an Olympic medal.
Amelia Booth, Bella Boulton, Georgia Kelly, Willow Norris & Annabelle Wills of 7E enjoying the experience.
Sienna Box-Corsini, Iambein Thomson-Laban, Amy Griffiths of Year 12 excited to see the medal.