Sports

[Mz iMac]

I watched it 2/10 (Thursday).  The aerials are done 50 stories in the air.

Check out the US team

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JF1OMzhNtOc

[hopi]

This sport is so expensive to practice .Basically looks like white kids. Their parents must have had the means to take their children skiing  constantly. What were they thinking.

Many of them compete for years in many olympics and they start so young. These sports looks life threatening . Most certainly they could cause a devastating injury.  It is really hard to watch.  

Utmost respect to these athletes.  There must be a better way.

[gizmogal]

Great Olympics clip to watch, especially proud of Mixed Team USA.

But I have to correct statements of height in this sport. An average story of a building is 12-14 feet. Even if it were just 10 feet, then a 50-story aerial that the OP was citing would achieve an altitude of 500 feet! Nope!  Humans can get as high as 50 ft. on these jumps, perhaps more, but no one jumps from a ramp height of 500 feet nor achieves a height of 500 ft.  So it’s 50 feet, not 50 stories.

I don't question it's an exciting and daring sport, but there are facts to make it equally impressive and still humanly possible.

Here is the description of competition Aerial Skiing from Wikipedia and the common training methods and equipment are described. (a meter is a bit over 3 feet) :

Aerialists ski off 2-4 meter jumps, that propel them up to 6 meters in the air (which can be up to 20 meters above the landing height, given the landing slope). Once in the air, aerialists perform multiple flips and twists before landing on a 34 to 39-degree inclined landing hill about 30 meters in length. The top male aerialists can currently perform triple back flips with up to four or five twists.

Aerial skiing is a judged sport, and competitors receive a score based on jump takeoff (20%), jump form (50%) and landing (30%). A degree of difficulty(DOD) is then factored in for a total score. Skiers are judged on a cumulative score of LIMA two jumps. These scores do not generally carry over to the next round.

Aerialists train for their jumping maneuvers during the summer months by skiing on specially constructed water ramps and landing in a large swimming pool. An example of this is the Utah Olympic Park training facility. A water ramp consists of a wooden ramp covered with a special plastic mat that when lubricated with sprinklers allows an athlete to ski down the ramp towards a jump. The skier then skis off the wooden jump and lands safely in a large swimming pool. A burst of air is sent up from the bottom of the pool just before landing to break up the surface tension of the water, thus softening the impact of the landing. Skiers sometimes reinforce the skis that they use for water-ramping with 6mm of fiberglass or cut holes in the front and back in order to soften the impact when landing properly on their skis.

Summer training also includes training on trampolines, diving boards, and other acrobatic or gymnastic training apparatus.

[Mz iMac]

@gizmogal  I watched on tv & the commentator clearly said "a 50 story building."  I thought he meant the height from the skier in the air to the ground below was 50 stories.  Anyway, I & the commentator are not wizzes (is that a word?) at math as clearly you are.  Good call.

[hckynutjohn]

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@hopi wrote:

This sport is so expensive to practice .Basically looks like white kids. Their parents must have had the means to take their children skiing  constantly. What were they thinking.

Many of them compete for years in many olympics and they start so young. These sports looks life threatening . Most certainly they could cause a devastating injury.  It is really hard to watch.  

Utmost respect to these athletes.  There must be a better way.

@hopi 

Not sure why you chose to mention ----- "kids" in your 2nd sentence, anyways!  I don't think you are aware of what average income parents pay to have their children participate in certain sports.

Tennis/figure skating/speed skating/gymnastics/hockey. I could list many others. 1 on 1 coaching? Pick any sport, its many $$$ per hour. I could cite costs for hockey "travel teams" costs to a parent(s), that does not include the several hundreds of $$$ for equipment.

As for risk? I can only speak to adults when it comes to choice, but! Kids choose certain sports for a reason, and most good parents do not force, nor prevent, their kids from choosing what interests them most.

Life is a risk, and using statistics? I would guess just driving a vehicle on roadways is a higher risk than what many see as high risk. Let's leave "but you have to drive" out of this, I am just talking injury/death risks, not comparing necessity.

"There must be a better way"?  I have talked about my ice skating on these forums adnauseum. At 82 and having had recent injuries that included hospitalization? I love skating and have continued. "A better way" for me? There are none.

I can't talk about the specifics of this topic because I have not watched the Olympics, or and news clips of any results, not interested in them. Wanted to add my perspective of @hopi post.

I did see a result, thanks to @porcelain reply, 2 weeks after my post in another thread in Wellness/Sports Forum.

hckynut 🇺🇸

[moonandthestars]

I love this event - both men's and womens!  So impressive.  Some started skiing backwards down the slope!  That was impressive to me, let alone what came next - the beautiful soaring through the air .....