{"id":490993,"date":"2026-02-12T01:04:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T02:04:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=490993"},"modified":"2026-02-12T04:22:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T04:22:09","slug":"stuffed-yoda-toy-that-reminds-family-of-zen-master-guseli","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=490993","title":{"rendered":"Stuffed Yoda toy that reminds family of 'zen master' Guseli"},"content":{"rendered":"

T\ufeffhat Valentino Guseli<\/a> has qualified for the men's snowboard halfpipe final<\/a> has come as no surprise to his family back home.<\/p>\n

While Aussies have come to love his big personality and equally big hair, to his family, he's quite the opposite.<\/p>\n

"We just know him as humble Val \u2013 we call him the zen \ufeffmaster. He's a weapon," his cousin Enrico Guseli told Nine's Today<\/em> on Thursday morning as he held a stuffed toy Yoda, which he said reminded him of Val.<\/p>\n

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\ufeffOn Saturday morning (AEDT) in Livigno, half a world away from his family in Kianga on the NSW south coast, Guseli will join countryman Scotty James in going for gold in the men's halfpipe final.<\/p>\n

\"Valentino<\/p>\n

On Thursday morning (AEDT), James topped the qualifying score sheet with a 94, while Guseli qualified sixth with an 86.75.<\/p>\n

"We're immensely proud," Enrico continued. "He's multi-talented in the three disciplines, so hopefully he can get into the slopestyle as well, because he's got a lot he can do in that, (he can do) a lot of damage."<\/p>\n

\ufeffHis grandmother Glenda said his jumps on Thursday morning were "poetry in motion", but admitted she still got nervous every time she watches him compete.<\/p>\n

"Every time I watch him jump, I just get very shaky all over in case he's going to fall \u2013 I really worry about him falling," she said.<\/p>\n

Watch the Winter Olympic Games Milano Cortina 2026 live and free on Channel 9 and<\/strong><\/em> 9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a>. Plus, every event live & on demand, every medal in 4K, and exclusive international coverage on<\/strong><\/em> Stan Sport<\/strong><\/em><\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"Valentino<\/p>\n

"But it's so exciting though. I'm getting used to it slowly.\ufeff How smooth he does it, it's just like poetry in motion. He's a beautiful boy."<\/p>\n

She might have been shaking violently enough to register on the Richter scale after the 20-year-old crashed in an all-or-nothing crack at a medal in the snowboard big air final<\/a> on Sunday morning (AEDT).<\/p>\n

Glenda said she had managed to speak to Val on several occasions.<\/p>\n

"He's really enjoying being there and what he's doing, being with all the other ones that are snowboarding … they're all good friends," she said.<\/p>\n

"It's lovely to see how they encourage each other. Even if they don't make it, they're still happy for the other ones that are winning. He's such a humble boy."<\/p>\n

His grandfather Guido said friends at his favourite coffee shop had told him watching the 20-year-old compete had brought them all happiness.<\/p>\n

\"Guseli's<\/p>\n

"At the coffee shop, and there was a lot of old people like me saying 'we came alive because of Valentino'," the beaming grandfather said.<\/p>\n

"They're looking at his qualities. And that's what I look at. Yes, it's a good quality and it cheers everybody up. Makes everyone happy."<\/p>\n

While James will no doubt start the halfpipe final as favourite, Guseli is a genuine chance to make it two Aussies on the podium.<\/p>\n

But his family won't care where he finishes.<\/p>\n

"Whatever happens, we're proud of him," Glenda said. "To us, he's a winner."<\/p>\n

"He's such a beautiful boy, win or lose, it doesn't matter. He's already won.<\/p>\n

"For us. He's he's already won."\ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

T\ufeffhat Valentino Guseli has qualified for the men's snowboard halfpipe final has come as no surprise to his family back home. While Aussies have come […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":491005,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490993"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=490993"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490993\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":491019,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490993\/revisions\/491019"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/491005"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=490993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=490993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=490993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}