Figure skater picked as Australia's first indigenous winter Olympian

Sydney (dpa) - Australia has selected a 21-year-old figure skater as the country‘s first indigenous winter Olympian, as it named four initial members of its team for Pyeongchang on Thursday.Harley Windsor, who hails from western Sydney, was picked to compete alongside Ekaterina Alexandrovskaya for the pairs figure skating event in next year‘s Games. "It feels like an amazing and mind-blowing accomplishment to have been named as Australia‘s first indigenous Winter Olympic athlete," Windsor said. "I grew up in the Aboriginal community and have always been around Aboriginal culture so it‘s been a huge part of my life and something that I‘m very proud of," he added.Australia has had 51 Aboriginal athletes compete in the green and gold at the Summer Olympics, but has not yet had an indigenous representative in one of its Winter Olympic teams.Windsor and 17-year-old Alexandrovskaya - who won the pairs event at the Junior World Championships in Taipei in March - split their training time between Sydney and Moscow. Australian Olympic Committee CEO Matt Carroll said Windsor‘s selection was a "historical day" for the Olympics in Australia."We hope that he provides inspiration to young indigenous athletes that they can follow in his path and compete at a high level in winter sports," Carroll said.Alongside Windsor and Alexandrovskaya, Sochi Olympian Brendan Kerry and 19-year-old Kailani Craine were also named in the country‘s figure skating squad to travel to the Games, set to begin in South Korea on February 9.