Historical information

These were the official Australian team's sunglasses issued to competitors at the Winter Olympic Games at Lillehammer, Norway in 1994. The glasses belonged to Paul and Adrian Costa however they could not wear them because the Costa brothers were sponsored by Oakley at that time.

The four Costa brothers - Paul, Adrian, Simon and Tom - all skied for Australia in mogul and freestyle competitions. They attended school at Falls Creek and Mt Beauty and were members of the Falls Creek Race Club.

Paul’s first major event at the age of 16 was the Falls Creek Summit Masters, where he finished second in the Open Class. In 1993 he placed fourth at the FIS Freestyle World Championships in Austria. He was selected to represent Australia at the Lillehammer Winter Olympic Games in 1994. After these Games, Paul ended his competitive career and took up coaching junior teams and was a member of the coaching staff for the 2006 Torino Olympics.

Adrian is a four-time Olympian, who competed in freestyle skiing at the 1992 Albertville, 1994 Lillehammer, 1998 Nagano and 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic Winter Games. He contested the moguls event at all four Games and his best performance was 14th, making the finals at both the Albertville and Lillehammer Games. At Salt Lake City, Adrian had the honour to carry the Australian Flag in the Opening Ceremony.
He competed at the World Championships from 1993 until 2001 and recorded his best place of 9th at the 1993 World Championships. His best World Cup performance was a silver medal in 1998. In total, Adrian Costa made 126 World Cup starts between 1991 and 2003, placing 31 times in the top 10 and seven times in the top five. He also competed in five Freestyle Skiing World Championships.

Significance

These sunglasses are significant because they belonged to two Winter Olympians from Falls Creek.

Physical description

Ray Ban brand sunglasses decorated with the official Olympic symbols for the Lillehammer Winter Olympics 1994. Pattens on the arms represent skiers in a range of events

Inscriptions & markings

On corner of one lens: Ray-Ban and Olympic Rings
On right arm: Lillehammer 94