Olympian Fiona Hannan will be happy just to beat State Member for Southern Downs Lawrence Springborg in Saturday’s celebrity grape crush event.
Fiona, admitting her competitive nature, told the Southern Free Times this week that surely she could beat a politician in the grape crush even though this would be her first attempt at the event.
“You got to beat the politicians, surely I can beat him,” Fiona joked.
Her only tactic she will employ before participating in this popular Stanthorpe Apple and Grape Harvest Festival activity will be to get a pedicure before the main event.
Fiona has achieved the rare feat of representing Australia in two different sports at the Olympics.
Robinson, now known by her married name of Hannan, won a bronze medal with the Australian women’s basketball team in 1996. The bronze was Australia’s first basketball medal at the Games.
After Atlanta, she switched sports to play handball, an exciting Olympic sport with only a limited player base in Australia.
With her athleticism, strength and ball skills, Fiona made a quick transition to her new sport.
Her brave decision was rewarded when she represented Australia in handball at Sydney 2000.
Yet Fiona said she enjoyed handball even more than basketball and was happy with her decision to switch sports.
Festival committee president Keith Barnett was ecstatic to have such high calibre athletes as Dawn Fraser and Fiona Hannan attending the Apple and Grape Festival.
But he may not be as happy when he competes against Fiona in the celebrity grape crush round.
Popular celebrity chef and Seven’s Better Homes and Gardens culinary guru, Ed Halmagyi, also known as Fast Ed will also participate in the quirky event.
It will be held at 4pm Saturday at the corner of Maryland and Railway streets, Stanthorpe.
Story: Rebecca Brown
