Sky's the Limit for High-Flying Mogulists

TURIN, Italy, Feb. 10 -- Olympians don't like to think of themselves as competing for attention with athletes from other sports. But moguls specialists arrive at the 2006 Turin Olympics acutely aware that their sport has been revolutionized so radically since 2002 that they can't help but steal some of the spotlight back from snowboarding and aerials, which has siphoned off their fan base of X Games enthusiasts in recent years.

No winter sport has undergone a more extreme makeover since the 2002 Salt Lake City Games. Not only are moguls skiers allowed to perform flips now; they're all but compelled to if they expect to even sniff a medal.

It represents a major shift in the international rule book, which until four years ago banned any stunt in which a skier's feet flew above his or her head. As a result, the "wow-factor" of freestyle moguls went through the roof overnight, along with its danger.

"That's why they have implemented a helmet law," explains Travis Mayer, 23, of Steamboat Springs, Colo., who won a silver medal at Salt Lake City. "It makes our sport more dangerous, and it makes our sport a lot more exciting."

Freestyle skiers can feel the consequences of "inverted" tricks in the pit of their churning stomachs before a moguls run. They also feel it in their aching knees and backs the day after. The sport's promoters and broadcasters see the consequences far more happily in the spike in TV ratings.

"We're not really competing against any other sports as far as publicity; I believe that every sport is amazing," Mayer offers. "But having that extra little twist in our sport has definitely brought up our ratings. People like crashes. Hopefully, no one crashes. But that's the truth: People like to see it, as long as no one gets hurt."

Adding to the drama of Saturday's women's competition is the fact that the final will be contested at night, under the lights, for the first time in Olympic history. That's sure to add to the atmosphere for fans huddled at the finish area of Sauze d'Oulx in the Italian Alps, as well as those watching on TV. It should help the skiers, too, who insist that competing at night is easier because the uniform lighting helps bring the undulating course into sharper focus.

"We prefer to compete at night because it does give you a little bit more depth perception than skiing in the day," says Jillian Vogtli, a two-time Olympian from Ellicottville, N.Y. "Once they put on the lights, it's a whole 'nother course."

Most moguls runs are over in half a minute. Athletes make a staggering number of decisions in the brief time, as they thunder down an icy, bump-ridden mountain slope and launch themselves off ramps to perform two midair stunts that account for 25 percent of their score. The top 20 skiers after one qualifying run in the afternoon advance to the final that night.

Moguls are judged by both objective and subjective measures. The final score reflects the time of the run, as well as judges' perceptions of the precision of the turns and the amplitude and creativity of the air-borne stunts.

It's in midair that the moguls revolution has occurred. From the moment the ban on inverted tricks was lifted, moguls specialists unleashed their pent-up creativity and daring in the form of front flips, back flips, 720-degree spins and cockeyed barrel rolls at every angle imaginable. But after four years of this frenzy to out-dazzle each other in the air, some U.S. moguls specialists fear that the balance of the sport has tipped too far. Moguls has become "a little bit of an air show," as Toby Dawson puts it, in which the shock value of stunts is valued more highly than the precision of the skiing.

Nonetheless, the Americans, who typically ski with more discipline through the turns than their European and Asian freestyle counterparts, enter as heavy favorites.

On the men's side, in particular, the Americans may have already cleared their biggest hurdle in simply qualifying for the 2006 Olympic squad. The competition was heated, with only four men chosen (the maximum allowed) from a talent-rich pool stocked with six or eight legitimate medal contenders. Among those who missed the cut was 2005 world champion Nate Roberts.

Jeremy Bloom is the team's poster boy, with a model's looks, corporate spokesman's poise and wide receiver's chiseled physique. At 23, Bloom likely is competing in his last Olympics. The former Colorado football player has his sights set on an NFL career and plans to fly back to the United States immediately after Wednesday's competition to start preparing for the Feb. 22 NFL combine in Indianapolis, where hopefuls will be timed, weighed, measured and roundly scrutinized in advance of April's draft.

"For me there's really no bigger honor than to represent our county in the Olympics and walk in the Opening Ceremony," said Bloom, who has won back-to-back World Cup titles since finishing ninth at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games. "A lot of that gets lost in our celebrity-crazed culture, with the constant desire to win and get gold medals."

The U.S. women are led by 19-year-old Hannah Kearney of Norwich, Vt., who wears her hair in braided pigtails that she wraps around her helmet-strap so she won't be mistaken for a boy. It's the only frivolous aspect of Kearney's strictly business persona. Sitting between two more seasoned teammates, Vogtli and 2002 silver medalist Shannon Bahrke, Kearney spoke frankly about the confidence she brings to her Olympic debut, having won the U.S. Olympic trials in December.

"It of course boosts your confidence when you can -- sorry, guys [glancing at either side] -- beat your teammates, because you know they are the best in the world, as well," Kearney said. "I'm here to do well. I'm not here to lose."

Freestyle Skiing TODAY Women's Moguls TV: NBC, the final will be shown between 8 and 11:30 p.m.