High-flying Ammann peaks at right time
Last Updated: Sunday, February 21, 2010 | 4:19 AM ET
By Mihira Lakshman, CBC Sports
Switzerland's gold-medallist, Simon Ammann is flanked by Poland's silver-medallist, Adam Malysz, right, and the bronze medallist, Austria's Gregor Schlierenzauer, during the medal ceremony of the Olympic men's large hill individual competition on Saturday. (Charlie Krupa/Associated Press)Consistency may seem like a quality that any successful ski jumper would need to have in his or her arsenal.
Not in the case of one of the sport's greatest athletes of all-time.
Simon Ammann went two for two in the ski jumping competition at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, capturing gold in both the normal hill and large hill events.
Ammann, a 28-year-old lanky athlete who grew up on a farm in the Swiss countryside, has been to four Olympics and won four gold medals.
But his performances have varied drastically throughout his career.
At his 1998 Olympic debut in Nagano, the 16-year-old rookie finished 35th in the normal hill event and 39th in the large hill competition.
He followed that bad Olympics with two great performances at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games, where he won both the normal hill and large hill events.
Then, he had another bad outing at the 2006 Torino Games, finishing 38th in the normal hill and 15th in the large hill.
He continued the bad, good, bad, good pattern with record-breaking performances in Vancouver, becoming the first ski jumper to win four individual Olympic golds.
Ammann is also only the second ski jumper to sweep gold medals in the normal and large hill competition (Finland's Matti Ensio Nykänen did it at the 1988 Calgary Olympics).
Since it's a sport dominated by Nordic countries, and now Switzerland, ski jumping gets little attention in North America.
No Canadian qualified for the final of the normall hill or large hill event in Vancouver.
Appeared on Letterman
But after emerging from relative obscurity to sweep the golds in Salt Lake City, Ammann started to build a name for himself, developing a bit of a swagger.
Prior to the start of the 2002 competition, Ammann was most well known for his pre-Olympic crash, which left him with a concussion and unable to train for a month.
But the Swiss underdog defeated top contenders from Germany, Poland and powerhouse Finland on his way to two gold medals.
It resulted in an appearance on Late Night with David Letterman just days after the Games, although his resemblance to the character Harry Potter likely played a role in him earning the coveted spot, alongside Kevin Bacon.
Ammann, however, didn't like the Harry Potter comparison, and soon ditched the studious black frames, in favour of contact lenses.
Perhaps appearing on Late Night was also bad luck, since it marked the beginning of a five-year slump, in which Ammann didn't win a single World Cup competition from 2002 until late 2006.
His downward spiral included disappointing 38th- and 15th-place results in the normal and large hill competitions at the Turin Games.
But he bounced back, having his strongest World Cup season ever in 2008-09, and then dominating the 2010 Games from his opening jump.
In his previous Olympic victories, Ammann has had to come from behind on his final jumps.
Even his competitors in Vancouver were stunned with his dominance.
"He jumped unbelievable," Poland's Adam Malysz said, the 2010 silver medallist in the large hill event.
"Simon is really amazing," Austria's Gregor Schlierenzauer, the bronze medallist, agreed.
Controversy over bindings
While his competitors paid tribute to his accomplishments at the end of Saturday's event, it certainly wasn't friendly in the days leading up to it.
The Austrian team launched a formal complaint, accusing Ammann of using illegal bindings, giving him an unfair edge.
But after a quick investigation, the International Ski Federation dismissed the complaint, ruling that Ammann's equipment was within the rules.
The issue appeared to be a curved iron stick attached to Amman's boot that bends forward as the jumper leans.
The Austrians believed the bindings allowed Ammann to jump farther by improving his aerodynamics.
Ammann's rival, Malysz, suggested that the Austrians were playing psychological games with the World Cup leader.
In any case, it didn't seem to throw him off his game.
Ammann is looking forward to returning home with his record-breaking hardware.
Ammann has always had a soft spot for his hometown of Underwasser, where he began ski jumping at the age of 11, on a 30-metre hill near his farmhouse. Each time he returns to the town of 1,000, he receives rockstar treatment.
He has toured the European talk show circuit, and shared a stage with singer Shakira - a moment he said made his friends even more jealous than his Olympic hardware.
Now that he's the most successful ski jumper in history, he's bound to get the royal treatment once again.
