The depth of Canada’s Olympic moguls team takes pressure off skiers expected to strike gold, said the sport’s association CEO Peter Judge.
“When we went into Calgary, we only had a couple medal hopefuls,” said Judge, citing the battle between Canadian figure skater Brian Orser and American Brian Boitano. “You had very few hands carrying a lot of weight.
“Whereas in this group you’ve got a lot of people, a lot of hands carrying that same weight and that makes for very light work.”
Alberta’s Jennifer Heil, competing in her third Winter Games after winning gold in 2006 at Turin, said pressure to perform does come with Olympic competition but training programs have prepared athletes to achieve at home.
“Honestly, I feel like I’ve won the lottery to have this opportunity to compete at home,” Heil said.
Conditions at Cypress for mogul skiing are ideal, said Judge, despite warm weather wreaking havoc with the snow pack at lower elevations.
“When we were up there two days ago the helicopter was flying around grabbing snow and moving it,” he said. “VANOC has done a phenomenal job, let’s say, moving heaven and earth to make sure this is going to transpire.”
