High Flying Women
Photography: Scott Sine
As the women’s ski jumping movement tries to build a global head of steam for inclusion as an official Olympic sport at the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver, Park City personalities—athletes, coaches, administrators and program bigwigs—are playing key roles.
Park City’s Utah Olympic Park is one-stop-shopping for the sport of women’s ski jumping in this country. Most of the nation’s female jumpers train here with Coach Casey Colby. Lindsey Van, the No. 2 women’s jumper in the world for the past two seasons, and Jessica Jerome, who’s been in the top five for two straight years, lead the parade of talent. But they’d be the first to tell anyone they’re not the Lone Rangerettes. “We’ve got a lot of good talent coming up,” Van said.
Women’s Ski Jumping USA (WSJUSA) is the driving force behind these young competitors—it is the engine which raises money to underwrite training and travel expenses for the athletes and Colby. The National Sports Foundation is the incubator, where young jumpers get their start and develop before bubbling up to the elite level.
Delta Air Lines pilot Peter Jerome served as president for two years after WSJUSA was incorporated in September 2003 as a non-profit organization. DeeDee Corradini, local realtor and former mayor of Salt Lake City, who was involved at various levels in the 2002 Winter Games, is the new ramrod, drawing on her Olympic background and employing Jerome’s considerable contacts within the various national ski federations.
“Ski jumping is the only women’s winter sport that’s not in the Olympics,” Corradini said. “We think that’s wrong.”
The women’s jumping movement has won some support from the International Ski Federation (FIS), which governs Olympic skiing. FIS upgraded women’s jumping to the Continental Cup level a year ago. Now, the push is to have organizers of the 2007 World Championships in Sapporo, Japan, accept women’s jumping.
“So much of it seems like a no-brainer,” Jerome said. “It’s frustrating because the reality is that FIS doesn’t move quickly, although snowboarding was fast-tracked. But we’ve been working with the Norwegians and the Canadians, and I measure the progress we’ve made in a short time. Two years ago, we were the women’s Grand Prix; last year, FIS upgraded it to the Continental Cup with 12 events, and this year we’ll have 21 events in seven countries, plus medal status at the World Junior Championships. That’s substantial progress … although we still have a long way to go to reach Vancouver in 2010.
“The priority right now is being accepted for Sapporo,” said Jerome. “The girls would love to jump the big hill, but the reality is if Sapporo says it’s the K90 [i.e., the “normal hill” with jumps around 90 meters], we’d take it … and say arigato.”
For more information about Women’s Ski Jumping USA or to help sponsor these young women, please view www.womensskijumpingusa.com.
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