Biathlon-Morton takes dad's lead to blaze a trail for Aussie biathlon

ANTERSELVA, Italy, Feb 15 : After almost two years of travelling and honing her skills, Australian biathlete Darcie Morton followed in her father's footsteps by making her Olympic debut 20 years to the day after he made his own.

The 26-year-old sharpshooter debuted in the women's 15km individual race on February 11, mirroring her father Cameron 20 years earlier when he made his maiden race at the Torino Games in 2006.

"Dad's here cheering for me as well, and for him to have competed in the Olympics in Italy and then me 20 years later, it's pretty amazing," Morton told Reuters after competing in Saturday's women's sprint. 

Morton's Olympic debut is the culmination of a two-year period of intense hard work during which she only spent a month in her native Australia; the rest of the time was spent training in Norway, Austria and Italy's South Tyrol region, where the biathlon competitions at the current Games are being held.

Morton's father was one of only a handful of Aussie Olympic biathletes 20 years ago and the sport in Australia remains small.

"Biathlon is a very small sport in Australia, and not many people even know what the sport is, compared to Europe where it is the biggest winter sport, so it's really difficult," Morton explained. 

"It's really hard being away from home for so long, and obviously the funding of the whole campaign is really difficult too, but this all makes it worthwhile - when you're here and racing for your country and everyone's cheering."

FUNDING HURDLES

However, even a sports-mad country like Australia has a limit to the amount of resources it can pour into minority pursuits, and the International Biathlon Union's "Closing the Competitive Gap" programme has provided Morton with a lifeline in terms of