Why isn’t there a movie about Steven Bradbury?

Seriously, you couldn’t make up a better story than the life of the man whose name has become a verb. Do a Bradbury and you know you bloody nailed it.

Last week, I was watching 2002 Winter Olympics footage of Australia’s bleached-blond hair, green leotard legend. And no matter how many times I replayed that 1000m speed skating race, the end result was a stupefying, spine tingling thrill. The wildly improbable crash, that snared him unexpected gold was so damn deserved.

https://www.olympics.com.au/olympians/steven-bradbury/

You couldn’t script that four of the world’s best skaters would get tangled up on ice and Steven would be the last man standing. He soared across the finish line first and the whole world got chills from that rink. I tried to lip read what he said as the result became clear. The best I can translate is “Oh my fff…” and some words that’s probably aren’t printable. Fffair enough.

Twenty years of blood, ice-cold sweat and and a broken neck got that champion across the line and I don’t understand why Screen Queensland or Russell Crowe or a Hemsworth or whoever has the movie making money Down Under hasn’t turned Bradbury into a blockbuster.

America would eat this film up. Canadians would watch it while playing ice hockey. Pick any of the big guns in the Winter Olympics – all the European countries – all across Asia. You can’t tell me this film hasn’t got a guaranteed audience.

25 million Australians would watch because it’s the ultimate story of the underdog. It’s the victory you want Aussie kids to grow up knowing. Dedication, persistence, guts and glory.

The reason I was looking back at Steven’s success on the ice was because I was preparing to interview him about his heroics in the ocean. In another plot twist, he’s just received a bravery medal from the Governor General for saving four teenage girls on a Sunshine Coast beach last year.

Olympic hero Steve Bradbury used his son’s surfboard to rescue swimmers in distress at Caloundra. (Image: FoxSports).

Again, you can’t make it up. His Olympic instincts kicked in as he paddled out through rough waves to four panicking girls at a break ironically named Happy Valley. Bradbury grabbed his son’s surfboard and brought the girls to shore safely. It could’ve ended so badly, but once again, this bloke managed to make a Hollywood ending.

I asked Steven if he was scared during the rescue.

He said no. He knew he could handle himself in the water and he was relieved to know he could still go back into “Olympic mode” when the adrenalin surged.

Back on the beach, one of the girls hugged him so hard she squeezed the air out his Olympic sized lungs and thanked him for saving her life. The movie writes itself.

This is all after decades of training and competing that nearly killed Steven. Twice.

I’m not exaggerating.

When Bradbury was 20, he crashed competing in Montreal and a rival’s skate skewered his right thigh. The blade went in one side and out the other. He lost four litres of blood in sixty seconds. His pulsing quadriceps muscle was completely severed. 111 stitches followed 18 months in recovery. The man returned to racing. He had unfinished business.

In 2000, Bradbury was training at the “big fridge” in Acacia Ridge and crashed head first into a barrier breaking his neck. His C4 and C5 vertebrae were fractured and he was told he’d never skate again. He spent a month in a halo brace with four pins screwed into his skull. Eventually, unbelievably, he put his skates back on. The ice beckoned.

Salt Lake City 2002 Winter Olympics arrived. You know the race. You know the result. You want to see the movie?

Steven says the film depicting his life has stalled. A speed skating movie on the go-slow. Covid hasn’t helped. The script is in its fifth iteration. Deeper Water Films are still plugging away. It’s being written by Stuart Beattie who worked on Pirates of the Caribbean, Ned Kelly, Collateral and Australia. So it’s going to be gold.

He first put on ice skates when he was three years old.

Steven Bradbury turns 50 in October.

Let’s give him a movie premiere before he does something else crazy incredible and we have to start working on the sequel.