Melbourne schoolgirl Indra Brown (freestyle skiing: halfpipe), who turned 16 only three weeks ago, is the youngest competitor on the Australian team in Milano but glued to the television watching all the action on Nine is 98-year-old Dick Walpole, Australia’s oldest living Winter Olympian. (Australia’s oldest living Olympian is Munich 1972 sailor Gordon Ingate who turns 100 on March 29.)
Dick competed in cross-country skiing at the Squaw Valley 1960 Games and is now the oldest survivor of those Games.
Born on December 10, 1927 to a solder settlement family, Thomas Richard (Dick) Walpole has lived and worked the historic Hurdle Creek property in Victoria’s high country his entire life. Educated at nearby Whorouly South Primary School and Wangaratta Technical School, cycling and Australian football were his early sporting pursuits, but when he was 16 he was coaxed to join his cousin Roy on a day trip to Mount St. Bernard where his passion for skiing was ignited. He went on to become Australia’s top cross-country skier, winning the National championships in 1958 and 1959, which led to his selection for the 1960 Winter Olympics. He was the sole Australian cross-country representative in Squaw Valley, finishing 51st in the 15km event. A member of the Myrtleford and Wangaratta Ski Clubs, he later took up coaching and remained with the sport into his eighties.
Dick married Myrtleford Hospitals’ matron Judith and lived happily at Hurdle Creek raising three children and six grandchildren. Judith died in February 2013, just short of their 50th wedding anniversary, so youngest son Paul moved back into the ancestral home to support and care for his father.
Still to this day, Dick plays an active role on the family farm working alongside Paul, grandchildren Ryan and Guy and their partners Dan and Jessica. He can be seen in his side-by-side buggy (pictured), fixing fences and checking or feeding the Angus cattle herds.
At the age of 98, Dick no longer plays an active role in either the Myrtleford or Wangaratta ski clubs, preferring to read about the future champions in local papers and news articles. With the current winter games on, every night he is glued to the TV watching the days’ action from Milano-Cortina.
Dick doesn’t go far from home now, preferring the serenity and safety of the place he has called home since 1927. “Paul won’t give me a day off regardless,” he says.
With thanks to Paul Walpole for providing the information about his father in this article.
