He Rules Air Ways

Ski jumping looks dangerous, right? Secret: The jumpers fly far but are really not more than a few feet off the ground.

Platform diving in the Summer Games, now that’s a long fall, yes? True, but they typically start a mere 40 feet above the water.

You want big air? That’s aerial skiing: Rocket off a ramp, fly 60 feet up, execute some twists and flips in the manner of a world-class gymnast, then land gracefully on skis.

No one in the world is better at this demanding athletic ballet than Eric Bergoust of Missoula, Mont., who won gold in Nagano in 1998 and is heavily favored to win gold again in Salt Lake City. “Live life,” Bergoust is fond of saying, “with the passion of an artist.”

Now 32, Bergoust has been dedicated to aerial skiing since he was 13. “I think he’s jumping better than he ever has,” U.S. Coach Jeff Wintersteen said.

Bergoust said, “I feel better than I did five years ago.”

As a kid, Bergoust wanted to be a stunt man or a fighter pilot. He loved bouncing on the trampoline. For kicks, he would jump off the chimney of the family house. For a really fun time, he would jump off a trampoline placed by a roadside bridge--making it appear to passing motorists as if he was jumping into the great beyond.

“Don’t do it,” he now says to those who might emulate his unorthodox ways. “I was a highly trained crazy little kid.”

Bergoust was the first person through the gate to see aerial skiing make its debut in 1988 as an Olympic demonstration sport in Calgary. To him, the competitors seemed like royalty. So he set about becoming one of them.

He drove to a training center in Lake Placid, N.Y., in a beat-up car, arriving with $10 in his pocket. He used the money to buy corn flakes, powdered milk, honey, bread, peanut butter and jelly; that’s what he ate for a week--breakfast, lunch and dinner--until he earned his first paycheck waiting tables.

Meantime, he jumped. And jumped. And jumped.

In Nagano, Bergoust crashed onto his chest during a practice jump. He says now that it felt as if he couldn’t even take a deep breath. Then he went out and notched what was then the highest composite score recorded in aerials competition. “I can be happy forever now,” he recalls thinking at the time.

Or maybe not, he admits now. “I’ve had to put my last win out of my mind to be motivated to do something better,” he said, adding that when he’s done competing, “I think I’ll enjoy it more.”

Added motivation comes from U.S. ski officials, who are aiming for a total of 10 medals in the various disciplines--aerial, mogul, Alpine, snowboarding, Nordic--at the Games. One of those 10, they figure, has got to be Bergoust’s.

Fine, Bergoust said. It’s good to set goals. And, he said, “It’s important to not be afraid to fail.”