Albany’s Sue Skirrow acknowledged as Australian team member as AOC recognises victims of Moscow Games boycott

While Prime Minister Anthony Albanese formally apologised to the competitors who defied the government of the time to attend the Moscow Olympics, Australian Olympic Committee president Ian Chesterman said those who were selected but did not go should also be recognised as part of the team. Albany’s Sue Skirrow was picked for the women’s hockey team and kitted out with an Olympic blazer, but was denied her chance of a medal after hockey joined shooting, equestrian and sailing in pulling out. She became one of 62 selected athletes who did not have the opportunity to attend the 1980 Games – 17 of whom, like her, never had another chance. Many nations boycotted the Moscow Olympics because of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and the 121 Australians who decided to resist the government and go faced a backlash when they returned home. Mr Albanese told Parliament on July 30 this year that the 1980 Olympians had “earned their place in the history of the Games and our nation”. Mr Chesterman said some sporting associations had succumbed to the pressure to pull out. “The devastation those athletes experienced is real, and for many it remains so today,” he said. “So, we acknowledge them as selected team members and victims of the political environment of that time.” Skirrow said she had long put the matter out of her mind. “It feels like another lifetime,” she said. “It’s weird because it has been so long; why now?” She has kept her team blazer – which still fits 45 years on – and is proud she got to represent her country but she has not let Olympic disappointment rule her life. “The blazer is special even though we didn’t get to compete,” she said. “I’m told there was a team meeting in Hobart and there was a worry that if we went the sport could lose future funding, but I don’t really recall the discussion. “It’s not like it’s ruined my life.” A goalkeeper, Skirrow made her international debut after the Games, playing in the JFK tournament in St Louis, in the US, in October 1980. She was in the Australian team for the 1981 World Cup in Argentina and for an event in the US that year which featured teams who had boycotted Moscow. However, she was also studying to be a vet and by the time the Los Angeles Olympics came around in 1984 she was living in the US and working towards her PhD. Skirrow went to every hockey match in those Games and saw Australia lose a penalty shootout to finish fourth. She worked as a government vet in Perth when she returned to Australia, moving to Albany 24 years ago to farm and continue as a vet. “I gave up hockey when I was 36 – so 33 years ago,” she said. “It got to the point when 13-year-olds were running rings around me, so it was time to stop.” She has since taken up golf and is the Albany Golf Club’s women’s captain and club champion, playing off a handicap of 12. “I played for Australia and am very happy to have done so,” she said.