Youth Olympic Games a 'dream come true' for U.S. ski jumper Emilee Anderson

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INNSBRUCK, AUT. — Emilee Anderson has perfect timing. Or maybe it’s simply fate that this 16-year-old from the heart of ski jumping country in the U.S. will make history when she competes Saturday in a sport that has been closed to female competitors at the Olympic level for nearly 90 years.

Anderson will represent the U.S. and the Visa Women’s Ski Jumping Team on Jan. 14 at the inaugural 2012 Youth Olympic Winter Games in Innsbruck, Austria. It marks the first time women will be allowed to compete in ski jumping in an International Olympic Committee (IOC)-sanctioned event.

"I'm so excited and this is a big honor for me," said Anderson, who qualified for her spot in October at an event in Lake Placid, N.Y. "I'm going to do my best to represent our country, my club and the Central Division." 

The Youth Olympic Winter Games (YOG) is an international multi-sport event organized by the IOC that will take place every four years, consistent with the current format of the Olympic Winter Games.

Anderson hails from Eau Claire, Wis. — a part of the country where more than 100 years ago Norwegian immigrants introduced their love of ski jumping and cross-country skiing. She started ski jumping at age 5 after following in the footsteps of her older sister, Elisabeth. Anderson trains in Eau Claire and her parents also routinely drive her an hour-and-a-half — sometimes multiple times a week — so Emilee can jump and train with one of her coaches at the St. Paul Ski Club.

She admits to being a bit nervous for her first international competition, especially one with such huge historical significance for her sport. But Anderson’s family and coaches say that her focused attitude and laid-back personality will give her the confidence to have fun and jump great. 

“Emilee has never been scared of anything in ski jumping. Nothing really fazes her,” said longtime coach Brian Nelson. “She’s very low-key and goes about her business and that’s something that really benefits her in ski jumping.”

Anderson was named to the development team of Women’s Ski Jumping USA after qualifying for the Youth Games. Some of her biggest cheerleaders Saturday will be members of the Visa Team, pioneers in the sport who for many years have pushed for the inclusion of women’s ski jumping into the Olympic Games.

In 2010, the IOC put a women’s ski jumping event on the 2012 Youth Games program — setting the scene for the April 6, 2011 announcement that women would finally be allowed to participate in ski jumping at the Olympic Winter Games, beginning in 2014 in Sochi, Russia.

“I am thrilled we have a representative at the first-ever Youth Games,” said Jessica Jerome, ranked fifth in the world last season. “I love how much the sport has grown since I was Emilee's age. She has a lot of talent and I hope that this will just motivate her more.”

Jerome took notice of Anderson at a Lake Placid event where she was helping an official check the fit of athletes’ suits.

“I asked Emilee if the suit she had was her competition suit or her training suit. She said it was her only suit,” Jerome said. “When I was her age, good equipment was scarce for me too, and once you had a good suit, or a good pair of skis, (for example) you held on to that for as long as possible.”

So a couple weeks later, the veteran ski jumper picked out one of her own suits (nearly brand-new) that didn’t quite fit and mailed it to the up-and-coming jumper. “Emilee is a little shorter than me, so I thought it would be a nice fit. I would rather have her put it to good use than have it sit in a closet and not see too many jumps.” 

Anderson was blown away by the gesture and put the suit to good use. She’s been traveling and competing throughout the Midwest and East Coast in the past few months, getting as many jumps under her belt as she could in preparation for the Youth Games. And she knows she’s ready.

“This is a dream come true for me,” she said.

The Innsbruck Games will run Jan. 13-22, attracting an expected 1,057 athletes between the ages of 14-18 from more than 80 countries. The individual ski jumping event takes place Jan. 14 and the team event is scheduled for Jan. 20. Each team is made of up of the participating country’s ladies ski jumper (Anderson), male ski jumper (Will Rhoads) and male Nordic Combined athlete (Colton Kissel).

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