Winter sport in Australia individual from the Southern Hemisphere, to win a Winter Olympic gold medal and was also part of the short track relay team that won Australia's first Winter Olympic medal (a bronze in 1994). Australia first competed in the Winter Olympic Games in 1936 and has taken part in every Winter Olympics since 1952. Australia first entered an ice hockey team in the 1960 Winter Olympics. It won its first Winter Olympic medal, a bronze, in 1994, and became the only southern hemisphere country to win Winter Olympic gold in 2002. Australia has competed in every Winter Paralympic Games, and has
Independent Olympians at the Olympic Games their only competitor in athletics at the 2016 Olympics. On December 5, 2017, the IOC announced that Russia would be banned from the 2018 Winter Olympics over its state-sponsored doping program. Russian athletes were allowed to participate under the Olympic flag as "Olympic Athletes from Russia" (OAR) if they were cleared by a panel, which was chaired by Valerie Fourneyron and had representatives from the IOC, the World Anti-Doping Agency, and the Doping Free Sport Unit of the Global Association of International Sports Federations. Independent Olympians at the Olympic Games Athletes have competed as Independent Olympians at the Olympic Games