For the Sochi Winter Olympics of 2013-14, the Federal Government, through the Australian Sports Commission (ASC) allocated approximately $3 million to support winter sports.

The Minister for Sport, Peter Dutton, expressed satisfaction with how athletes participating for the Sochi Winter Olympics of 2013-14 bestowed pride to the country.

"The medal winning performances of aerial skiers Lydia Lassila and David Morris along with Torah Bright in the snowboard half pipe were outstanding and confirmed Australia's standing in the these events. It was also impressive to see Australia finished with ten top eight finishes in Sochi, building on the seven top eight finishes Australia achieved in Vancouver, which shows just how deep the nation's world class talent is in winter sports," Mr Dutton said through a statement.

Australia equalled its Winter Olympics record of three medals to finish on the medal table in 24th place.

Mr Dutton said that the country was equally proud for those athletes whose goals were not achieve as how the country was proud about those who bring home their medals.

"The Sochi Games highlighted just how competitive international sport is and while some of our athletes did not reach the lofty goals they set for themselves, there is much to celebrate. The depth of the good performances from some of the youngest athletes in the team is well worth celebrating and points to a bright future. All 60 Australian athletes in our team have given the nation their best effort on the back of years of dedication to get to Sochi and I congratulate them and the wider support team for their achievements," Mr Dutton added.

The Australian Olympic Team for Sochi Winter Olympics of 2014 truly brought pride and honour to the country as shown through how fans all over the globe made the team's digital campaign overwhelmingly successful.

According to the Australian Olympic Committee the national team was loved by fans like no other Winter Team before.

Fans were showing unbelievable attention and support through the national team's social media channels and the AOC education programs.

Interesting AUS Olympic Team Digital Facts For Sochi 2014:

  • 600,000 unique visitors & 3.25m page views on Team website. 275% increase from Vancouver 2010
  • Five most popular athletes on the Sochi Team Website - Torah Bright, Alex Pullin, Brooklee Han, Jana Pittman and Emily Bamford
  • Five most popular sports - Snowboard, Figure Skating, Bobsleigh, Freestyle Skiing, Alpine Skiing
  • There were over 5,000 Fan Wall posts. Besides the medallists, Lucas Mata and Lavinia Chrystal topped the popularity stakes.
  • @AUSOlympicTeam social media community has grown to over 350,000 friends, fans and followers
  • Over 12.9 million impressions of @AUSOlympicTeam content on Facebook. Two posts about Torah Bright's silver medal reached over 740,000 people.
  • Approximately 4,700 school children participated in Chat to a Champ video conferencing
  • Lesson plans were downloaded 55,000 times. After the colouring in BK in a babushka doll the next most popular resource was the Upper Primary - Maths: Australian Teams over Time