Emerging U.S. moguls skier Jeremy Bloom passed up a chance to play football for his home-state University of Colorado last fall, a decision that seemed benign at the time. The implications grew more intense with every game the Buffaloes won.
“The day I left [to train with the U.S. team] I said my goal is not to regret this,” Bloom said. “I better do well or I’m going to regret this decision for the rest of my life.”
Defending gold medalist Jonny Moseley took two years off and wedged his way back onto the U.S. freestyle team against some resistance. Even as he vied for an Olympic spot, he was working on a new trick that pushed the current rules of the sport. It’s called the dinner roll, and Moseley plans to execute it whether or not the judges deem it to be half a loaf.
“I’m not going to cater to what I think they’re going to score,” Moseley said. “I don’t want to go backward. It feels great and I know the crowd loves it. And now it’s my best trick in terms of comfort and landing.”
All’s well that lands upright. Both men will be navigating the bumps Tuesday, when qualifying and final rounds will be held at Deer Valley.
Colorado won the Big 12 championship without Bloom, who had a sensational debut on the World Cup circuit, topping the standings with a win and two third-place finishes. He is considered a co-favorite in Tuesday’s event with Finland’s Janne Lahtela.
Bloom, 19, of Ft. Collins, Colo., radiated good vibes upon arrival in Salt Lake City.
“There were no guarantees for me,” Bloom said. “I just got sized for an Olympic ring, and that can take the place of the Big 12 championship ring.”
Bloom, an all-state wide receiver, was preparing for two-a-days in Boulder when he caught the attention of the U.S. freestyle coaches at a training camp in South America.
Moseley nailed down his Olympic start with a World Cup win in France last month, then petitioned international ski officials for permission to do his new maneuver. It involves a half-flip followed by two full horizontal turns and comes very close to lifting his feet above his head, which is prohibited.
The move has received a tepid reception from judges on the two occasions Moseley has performed it in competition. But for all the attention it has generated, it will count for less than a quarter of his score. Moguls skiers are judged for speed (25 percent), smooth form (50 percent) and the acrobatic moves they perform off the two jumps on the course.
After winning the gold in 1998, Moseley said, “I was really fried on being in the gate.” He spent the next two years as a free-floating electron on the fringes of his fringe sport, doing “very obscure stuff, even more obscure than freestyle.”
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That included competing in the made-for-television X Games and the Gravity Games, hosting his own TV show and helicopter skiing in Alaska and Canada. By the time Moseley, 26, decided he wanted to return to Olympic-style competition, he had to fight for World Cup starts and struggled with his own aversion to authority.
“To get the discipline back took a while,” he said. “I literally had to be broken.
“I wanted to be able to just show up at the gate and defend my title. It’s taken a year to quell that cockiness.”