MAIN Sports Olympic Games Olympic Freestyle Skiing

© LaPresse

A combination of showmanship, acrobatics and derring-do, Freestyle Skiing is always a star crowd pleaser at the Winter Olympic Games.

Better known as "hotdogging" in the United States, where it orginated in the 1960's, its creator was none other than Norwegian skiier Stein Eriksen, who had held several world championship titles throughout his career in the 1950's and was considered one of the sport's first superstars.

Upon retirement, Eriksen became a ski coach and instructor in the U.S., where he was inspired by the moves of young American skateboarders, and adapted their techniques to instantly attract an upcoming generation of new school skiiers.

Today at the Winter Games, freestyle skis are noticeably shorter than regulation, to allow for better control during hotdogger's quick negotiation of moguls and breathtaking aerial jumps and somersaults.

U.S. freestyle skiers we watched in 2006:

Jeremy Bloom - One of the top athletes in the United States, he is a World Cup champion in moguls freestyle skiing and was a Freshman All-American football player in 2002. Usually dividing his time between football and skiing, Bloom became a fulltime skier in 2004. He was ninth in the 2002 Olympic Winter Games, took the World Cup Overall championship in 2003 and won a silver medal in the World Championships the same year. Jeremy won his first 2005 World Cup title in January and two days later won a dual moguls event. His Hollywood movie star looks have made him a favorite of magazine photo spreads including appearances in Vanity Fair, GQ, Sports Illustrated, and Cosmo Girl.

More about Olympic freestyle skiing around the Web:

International Olympic Committee - Freestyle Skiing - Overview of the freestyle competitions, list of events, Olympic records, athlete profiles, picture gallery.

FIS Ski - Freestyle - Use the left-hand menu to surf athlete biographies, results, standings, records, schedules, pictures and more.

U.S. Ski Association - Freestyle - The latest news, athlete rankings, competition schedules, downloadable forms and publications.