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Wow. Just woke up after watching all night and I don’t even know what to say.
What a momentous day in freesking history. We spent months arguing about the outcome of this day. Will the Olympics propel our sport into the spotlight or will it only confirm the public’s preconceptions of asshattery and send us deeper into the fringe? Would the course meet the standards of the world-class venues we’ve come to expect? Are the judges ready to decipher our unique combination of technique and style? We could speculate all we wanted, and we sure did, but none of those questions could have been answered before today’s event—and they all were.
Today’s competition not only provided the quality necessary to attract an audience outside of the ski community, but also the emotion and grit that the general public has come to expect from long-established Olympic sports. People tune into figure skating because they get to see athletes perform on a very personal level. Even without the NBC backstories, we find ourselves at the edges of our seats because the dedication of the athletes is so apparent. We want them to succeed so badly and that’s what really legitimizes those sports. Henrik and Andreas and the rest of the crew may not provide the tears we see during the finals of other events, but their sincerity and stoke matched any mainstream Olympic athlete and anyone can appreciate that. While the snowboarders will be remembered for their endless complaints, the skiers will certainly be remembered as an animated bunch that fed off the sense of community that pervades our sport in all its disciplines. Perhaps it’s this sense of unity, not the amazing technique or flashy style that will end up winning the hearts of non-skiers, some of which will join our ranks and bring even more talent and progression.
For those of us who have loved and followed this sport since our first day out on the slopes, we will be just as satisfied. We will continue to debate the decisions made by the judges today, but there will be no speculation as to whether or not the event was a success. Besides, can we really blame a judge? After all, they only have a matter of seconds to provide a score for a run that includes more intricacies than even the best skiing mind can comprehend. I, for one, would never trade our beloved variety for the judging precision used in figure skating and ice dancing. Joss threw an unnatural triple. Geopper found the perfect balance of style, technicality, and amplitude. Jossi showed the world how simplicity can be just as stylish. Hatviet’s stoke was so infectious you might have thought he won gold. This competition lacked nothing. Even the absence of some of our most beloved athletes won’t matter, because those who just caught the freeskiing bug will find them just as quickly as we all did. Cheers to that!
While most of the questions leading up to today have been answered, the ones that will sprout from its conclusion will be even more fun to discuss and eventually see answered. Until then, may we all raise our glasses or shotskis and celebrate this victory while looking forward to pipe in a couple days.
TLDR: Lurking member of NS got emotional enough to post.
