I stumbled across this title in VUDU "Movies on US" (Free with ads). In the 1990s I had a female classmate who moved to Lake Placid (without her family) to train as a ski jumper. At the time, she talked about out-jumping the boys, how she was going to be in Olympic the 2002 Games when the US, as the host country, could add women's jumping to the list of events. It didn't happen in 2002. And it didn't happen again in 2010, and this film poignantly delves into the latter episode.
The sport of ski jumping is a life consuming affair. You pretty much have to go to Lake Placid or, now, Salt Lake City. Training is like any other sport, requiring the top prospects to train like "mini-pro's" while barely out of primary school. This film documents the way a generation of these girls devoted pretty much the majority of their lives to the promise of a chance to win a gold medal, and ultimately were thrown under the bus by the IOC and NBC in Vancouver games.
It's a documentary that was shot ostensibly in the anticipation of a feel good story as the women hopes to claim their place at the table in 2010. A footnote at the end says that in 2014 they did in Sochi. But not the women in this film, many of whom were already pushing the age limit for the sport in 2010, after enlisting in their early teens and enduring more than a decade in some cases of building up the sport on the back of their successes in sub-Olympic world competition . Thankfully the project was continued even as the prospect of the Olympic hill faded from an assured payoff, to an optimistic wish, to a Hail Mary lawsuit and finally to a desperate appeal to anyone listening in the form of a billboard ad.
Missing from the documentary are interviews with parents -- the people who went all in on their daughters prospects as "professional" amateur athletes (in skiing you still must be an amateur to compete in the Olympics, meaning you can get money from sponsors but you can't get paid for your skiing). People who mortgaged their financial lives... and their children, to bet on the promises that their daughters would have a chance to stand on the same podium that Lindsey Vonn and Julia Mancuso as well as Bode Miller stood on in a moment of triumph celebrated around the world.
2018 is an opportune moment to watch this film and reflect on the sport, as we see Lindsey Vonn now at the twilight of her career, similar to what Lindsey Van the ski jumper faced in 2010 from a much less propitious vantage point. And also as the women's ski jumpers in Pyeongchang could not possibly receive less TV coverage without completely omitting them. Their event just doesn't drive Monday morning orders of skis and goggles and boots and snowboards. But I don't seem to recall the Olympic Charters saying: "... and to make money for our sponsors" is the purpose of the games?! Aren't the games supposed to be a celebration of the HUMAN accomplishments of the athlete, their dedication, ability, and, in the case of ski jumping, courage! In fact, isn't it considered demeaning for individual athletes in some sports to be professional athletes?
This film will be enjoyed by anyone who has sat through a winter Olympics scratching their head about why a half-pipe skier like Elizabeth Swaney can go to the Olympics, but the super-athlete in an odd-ball sport never finds a chance at the spotlight Olympiad after Olympiad until eventually she fades away waiting in the wings. I recommend reading this article also on women's jumping in the 2018 games: http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/international/ct-olympics-women-ski-jumpers-equality-20180210-story.html
The sport of ski jumping is a life consuming affair. You pretty much have to go to Lake Placid or, now, Salt Lake City. Training is like any other sport, requiring the top prospects to train like "mini-pro's" while barely out of primary school. This film documents the way a generation of these girls devoted pretty much the majority of their lives to the promise of a chance to win a gold medal, and ultimately were thrown under the bus by the IOC and NBC in Vancouver games.
It's a documentary that was shot ostensibly in the anticipation of a feel good story as the women hopes to claim their place at the table in 2010. A footnote at the end says that in 2014 they did in Sochi. But not the women in this film, many of whom were already pushing the age limit for the sport in 2010, after enlisting in their early teens and enduring more than a decade in some cases of building up the sport on the back of their successes in sub-Olympic world competition . Thankfully the project was continued even as the prospect of the Olympic hill faded from an assured payoff, to an optimistic wish, to a Hail Mary lawsuit and finally to a desperate appeal to anyone listening in the form of a billboard ad.
Missing from the documentary are interviews with parents -- the people who went all in on their daughters prospects as "professional" amateur athletes (in skiing you still must be an amateur to compete in the Olympics, meaning you can get money from sponsors but you can't get paid for your skiing). People who mortgaged their financial lives... and their children, to bet on the promises that their daughters would have a chance to stand on the same podium that Lindsey Vonn and Julia Mancuso as well as Bode Miller stood on in a moment of triumph celebrated around the world.
2018 is an opportune moment to watch this film and reflect on the sport, as we see Lindsey Vonn now at the twilight of her career, similar to what Lindsey Van the ski jumper faced in 2010 from a much less propitious vantage point. And also as the women's ski jumpers in Pyeongchang could not possibly receive less TV coverage without completely omitting them. Their event just doesn't drive Monday morning orders of skis and goggles and boots and snowboards. But I don't seem to recall the Olympic Charters saying: "... and to make money for our sponsors" is the purpose of the games?! Aren't the games supposed to be a celebration of the HUMAN accomplishments of the athlete, their dedication, ability, and, in the case of ski jumping, courage! In fact, isn't it considered demeaning for individual athletes in some sports to be professional athletes?
This film will be enjoyed by anyone who has sat through a winter Olympics scratching their head about why a half-pipe skier like Elizabeth Swaney can go to the Olympics, but the super-athlete in an odd-ball sport never finds a chance at the spotlight Olympiad after Olympiad until eventually she fades away waiting in the wings. I recommend reading this article also on women's jumping in the 2018 games: http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/international/ct-olympics-women-ski-jumpers-equality-20180210-story.html
