(PYEONGCHANG 2018 STORIES TO WATCH)
(SKI JUMPING)
Ski jumping has been on the Olympic programme
since the Winter Games began in 1924.
It was a men's only event until women's competition was
added to the programme for Sochi four years ago.
Even without wings, Olympic ski jumpers
soar as smoothly as any bird, plane or snowflake, gently
riding the air as surely as many people walk.
Can mankind fly?
The Olympic ski jumper says, "Just watch me."
There will be four ski jumping events in Pyeongchang -
a normal hill, or 90-metre hill,
individual event for men, in which top male jumpers
take off three times. The men will also
compete on the 120-metre large hill in both individual
and team competition featuring a nation's four best jumpers.
For women, there will be a normal hill, or 90-metre hill,
individual event, in which female jumpers take off twice.
Athletes who jump the farthest generally receive
the top scores, but judges also mark form and landing,
and their evaluations figure into the final scores.
Ski jumping events will be
held at the Alpensia Ski Jumping Centre.
The jumping events in the Nordic combined competition
will also take place in this 11,000-seat stadium.
Do you know which ski jumper has a movie made about him?
Find out at the end.
(NORIAKI KASAI, JPN)
The reigning Olympic silver medallist in the large hill,
Noriaki Kasai, will be 45
at the Pyeongchang Games, which will
mark his record-setting eighth winter Olympic appearance.
He says he wanted to participate in these Olympics,
because his family has never seen him compete,
and Japan is close to the Republic of Korea.
Noriaki was born in the region of Hokkaido,
where Sapporo 1972 was staged.
Japan swept in competition to win their only three medals
of those '72 Olympics.
There is a Polish rap song and a Finnish punk song about him.
Noriaki made his World Cup debut at age 16 in 1988
and has jumped in more than 500 international competitions.
(STEFAN KRAFT, AUS)
Stefan Kraft won gold medals in both the normal hill and large
hill at the World Nordic Championships in 2017, setting
himself up as an Olympic favourite in Pyeongchang.
He set the ski flying record last season with an astounding
jump of 253.5 metres.
Stefan enjoys a game of football or beach volleyball
during the Austrian summer.
Stefan may be soft-spoken,
but his last name Kraft means "force" in German.
(OLYMPIC MEDALS)
In the all-time medal table for ski jumping,
in fifth place Switzerland has four gold,
fourth place is Germany with a total of 11 medals,
third place we find Austria with six gold,
Norway in second with nine gold
and on top, ten gold medals, is Finland.
(PETER PREVC, SLO)
Peter Prevc will lead the Slovenian team
into the ski jumping competition.
Peter, 25, has won two medals at the Olympics
and three at the world championships,
but he is still looking for his first gold medal.
Peter has two brothers that are ski jumpers, Domen and Cene.
Middle brother Cene, 21,
won the European Youth Olympic Festival jump competition
in 2013.
The three brothers competed together in the team event
at Willingen, Germany, last year.
Their father is
an international ski jumping referee.
Peter was named Slovenian sportsperson of the year
four times.
(SARA TAKANASHI, JPN)
Sara Takanashi entered the last Olympics as defending world
champion, but missed a medal by two points
and settled for fourth at Games at Sochi.
Sara took lessons in piano and ballet before her father
introduced her to ski jumping when she was seven.
When travelling, she still sends him videos of her jumps,
seeking his advice, though he is not her official coach.
Sara was a member of the Tokyo 2020 bid committee that won
the right to stage the Olympics.
Did you know what happened in 1985?
Ski jumping was changed forever when the Swede Jan Boklöv
started the V technique.
Rather than holding his skis in the traditional straight line,
Boklöv debuted the revolutionary style for greater
aerodynamics and now everybody does it.
(CARINA VOGT, GER)
Carina Vogt has dominated the event
over the past four years,
finishing first at Sochi 2014 and winning both individual
and the mixed team gold at the world championships in 2015
and 2017.
She had reached the podium eight times that season, in the
world cup, without finishing first before her win in Sochi.
Carina first saw ski jumping on TV as a four-year old
and took to jumping on tiny hills by age eight.
She nearly quit the sport after some poor
results as a 17-year old.
Carina is trained as a police officer.
(SARAH HENDRICKSON, USA)
Sarah won the first world cup season title
for women's ski jumping in 2012.
But six months before the Sochi Olympics,
she tore her and ACL and MCL during a training jump
and barely recovered for the Olympics.
In Sochi, where women's ski jumping made its debut,
Sarah drew bib number one, making her the first woman to
compete in ski jumping at an Olympics.
Sarah is dating US freestyle skier Torin Yater-Wallace.
So, do you know which ski jumper
has a movie made about him?
Well, that is Eddie 'The Eagle' Edwards, the movie was
released in 2016.
Ski jumping gets under way in the first week
of Pyeongchang 2018,
beginning with the normal hill.
Normal hill for the women starts on Day 3.
The final event is the large hill team
event on day 10 of the Games.
The Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang
set to begin on February 9th.
Fill your knowledge tank
by watching other episodes on Olympic Channel.