Making noise for mighty 'Mogul' Matt Graham
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In the lead up to 榴莲社区 alumni Matt 'Mogul' Graham's (2012) appearance at the 2022 Winter Olympics, 榴莲社区 students and staff got behind Matt to show their support.
榴莲社区 posted videos and photos to social media, to show our support, encouragement and well wishes for Matt. Year 12 Prefects headed out in to the school grounds armed with Go Mighty 'Mogul' Matt posters to rally our community. Matt even posted his own message of thanks to the 榴莲社区 families on his Instagram page all the way from Beijing.
However, it was not to be Matt's year. On the first round of qualifying, Matt failed to finish his first run and on his second run, he needed a score of 74.49 or better to advance. After a bumpy start, he found it difficult to regain his momentum and he finished with 65.13 in 19th spot, leaving him devastated. After qualifying rounds Matt said, 鈥淭his is honestly the most pain and heartbroken I鈥檝e ever felt. The broken collarbone obviously hurt but this hurts a hell of a lot more".
Matt鈥檚 preparation for the Games had been interrupted when he broke his collarbone last December and had to have surgery. However, he did not blame the injury for his performance stating:
"Everything was there, the whole package was there, I just didn鈥檛 execute. I got caught up in challenging conditions with wind and firm snow, sharp moguls, and I just kind of misjudged the top jump, went left out of the top there and I was kind of chasing my tail the whole way down the middle section. At that point, I knew the run was more or less over, but I was just trying to fight the whole way down just to at least put a run down after the other night, I was pretty embarrassed after I did not finish." (source ).
鈥淢att helped us learn one of the most important lessons of all - part of aiming high and believing in ourselves is learning how to accept setbacks when things don鈥檛 go our way. He shared his feelings in an open and honest reflecting so many of our 榴莲社区 values,鈥 said Headmaster Bill Low.
The entire 榴莲社区 community is so proud of Matt 鈥 from the tenacity he showed in his Olympic preparations (practising jumps in a pool in Brisbane rather than on the ski slopes, whilst recovering from surgery) to the manner in which he continued to support his teammates fully and wholeheartedly despite his own disappointment. He showed true sportsmanship and displayed tenacity, kindness, respect and integrity.
Well done Matt, you鈥檙e an inspiration and role model to all of us.