Begg-Smith confident of Olympic gold
So much of Dale Begg-Smith's life appears shrouded in mystique that when he makes a definitive statement you tend to listen.
Like the fact the moguls skier feels he can win a medal at the Winter Olympics on Wednesday.
While many of his teammates in Turin talk around their chances, the Canadian-born Begg-Smith is more to the point.
"Based on previous results I'm sure that doesn't seem too unfeasible," Begg-Smith said when asked if he was expecting to win a medal here.
Given he has won four gold medals in World Cup events this season it's perhaps not such a great leap but it is still a rare moment for the painfully reserved 21-year-old.
His reluctance to go into detail about what has so far been an amazing life journey for he and brother and fellow Australian Games team member Jason has meant people are constantly filling in the blanks themselves.
The internet advertising business the brothers run and which Dale started when was just 13, has been the source of much speculation with guesses that it is worth anywhere from a few to one hundred million.
"I don't know where you guys get your numbers from - I make a decent living, not millions of millions of dollars like some people like to say," is all Dale would say.
When pressed about specifics of the business itself he says it's "not a big deal" and that it's not getting in the way at the Games because it is "tapering down".
Then there's their move from Canada to live and train in Australia when Dale was just 15.
In part because the Canadian team would not let he and Jason miss camps to run the business, it still begs the question of how someone so young comes to a decision to move away from his family and everything he's known.
"I don't know," he said when asked about how he came to have such independence.
While little else may be clear, the certainty is Dale Begg-Smith is good enough to win gold at his first Olympics.
A run of three consecutive World Cup wins in the last four has assured that.
He'll train here over the next two days, fine tuning the jumps to go with what are the cleanest turns on the circuit right now.
Old brother Jason is not quite in the same league and will struggle to make the 20-man final while Nick Fisher could squeak into the decider.
Michael Robertson is the wildcard in the pack but after recovering from injury and picking up his first World Cup medal (a bronze) in December last year, he may also figure amongst the top finishers.
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