Dale Begg-Smith, missing Winter Olympian, is living on Grand Cayman Island
By Anthony Sharwood From news.com.au
It was the Canadian accent with a twinge of Aussie that gave him away. That, and the reluctance to enter into a conversation.
Dale Begg-Smith, the mysterious and reclusive mogul skier who is Australia’s most successful ever winter Olympian, is living on Grand Cayman Island, a speck of land in the Caribbean which is a well-known haven for the rich and famous.
Last month, news.com.au broke the news that Australia’s Olympic chiefs had no idea whether Begg-Smith planned to compete in next February’s 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
Not only does the Australian Olympic Committee have a red question mark beside Begg-Smith’s name on its running sheet of medal hopefuls, it doesn’t even know where he is.
“He shows up when he shows up and calls when he calls,” is pretty much the story we were given by the AOC, the Olympic Winter Institute of Australia (OWIA) and Begg-Smith’s long-serving coach Steve Desovich.
So we thought we’d call and see if Begg-Smith was able to enlighten us on behalf of the 12 million-plus Australian taxpayers whose wages help fund the Australian Olympic movement.
First we tracked him down. He lives on Grand Cayman Island, one of three islands in the Caymans group. The Caymans are a major offshore financial hub, which is the polite way of saying “tax haven”. There is no suggestion Dale has done anything wrong, however.
Tax havens like The Caymans are where the wealthy go to run their businesses and pay no direct tax on their income or the profits of their businesses. And Begg-Smith is said to be fabulously wealthy, courtesy of his business which reportedly designs computer spyware.
It was this business which first sent Begg-Smith to Australia. Canadian winter sports officialdom was unhappy with the rising skiing star being both entrepreneur and Olympic hopeful. Australian officials welcomed him with open arms, and he soon became one of us.
Begg-Smith won gold in the moguls at Torino 2006 and silver at Vancouver 2010, when some people suggested he was unlucky after judges marked him extremely harshly. But will he compete in his third Games at Sochi 2014?
Only one way to find out, so we dialled his 16-digit number. It rang that familiar long north American ring. And rang some more. Finally he picked it up.
“Hello?” he answered.
“Hi, is that Dale?”
“Who’s this?”
“Dale I hope this is an OK time to call. My name is Anthony, and I’m calling from Australia.”
Silence…
“I’m a former Australian ski instructor and I’m also a reporter for Australia’s largest media company News Corp.”
Click.
And that was that.
The Sochi Games are now less than six months away, and while many Australian Winter Olympians are currently training and competing in the southern hemisphere snow season, Begg-Smith is thousands of kilometres away from the nearest snowflake.
The National Moguls Championships are on at Perisher next weekend, on the course where Begg-Smith has trained many times. Three of the world’s top 10 mogul skiers will be there, and while Begg-Smith was originally on the resort’s list of entrants, it now seems unlikely he will compete.
Begg-Smith is much loved by his teammates, who say he provides invaluable advice when in camp. Olympic officials remain hopeful that he will turn up at Australian training camps in Utah after the southern hemisphere winter. Utah is about five hours flying time from the Caymans.
Last month, Begg-Smith’s coach Steve Desovich rated his charge a 50/50 chance of competing in Sochi, while OWIA boss Geoff Lipshut said it was unlikely he’d be there “just because we haven’t seen Dale much lately”.
That makes 23 million of us who haven’t seen much of him. But at least we know he’s alive and well.
Anthony Sharwood will cover the 2014 Winter Olympics for news.com.au and News Corp websites and papers. @antsharwood
PHOTO: The reclusive Olympian pretends to be happy someone is taking a picture of him Source: AP
Other photos of Grand Cayman and a hotel/residential complex where he is living
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