Thursday, November 15, 2001
Canada's aerial team positive about Olympics
By CAMERON MAXWELL -- Calgary Sun
Don't be surprised if Canada's aerial assault at the Olympics nets the country a few medals.
The members of the freestyle aerial skiing team, which is probably the best group of twisters and flippers on two skis in the world, are ready for Salt Lake City.
They'll be led by three-time Olympian Nicolas Fontaine, who won silver in Nagano, but there will also be some first-time Olympians such as Red Deer's Deidra Dionne.
Dionne, the 1999-2000 World Cup female rookie of the year, is looking forward to competing on the freestyle hill at Deer Valley, outside Salt Lake City, where she has done well in the past, nabbing a silver medal in the 2001 World Cup event held there.
"It's been my dream since I was a little girl and now I've got the opportunity, so it's just a matter of getting that gold medal that I've always wanted," Dionne said yesterday. The 19-year-old was in town with fellow athletes to model the Canadian Olympic team's new fashions.
While it'll be Dionne's first time at the Olympics, she says she's not feeling the pressure.
"Pressure is something you put on yourself and I know ... the medals will happen if I jump my best," said Dionne, a graduate of the National Sports School in Calgary.
The team will be in Alberta training until next month getting ready for the World Cup season to start in January.
Dionne said her main competition is likely going to come from her teammates. Dionne expects Veronica Brenner and Veronika Bauer to compete with her for the medals.
Brenner, who missed all of last year with an injury, won a gold medal at the 2000 Goodwill Games and finished second in World Cup points in 1999-2000. Bauer won a gold medal at last year's FIS World Freestyle Ski championships and was ranked fourth last year in World Cup standings.
"I look at our team and it's one of the strongest going in so it means a lot that we all have the potential to be on the podium," said Dionne.
She says there are no rivalries on the team.
"We all get along really well and work together, so it's not an unfriendly atmosphere at all. We just push each other to work harder."
Another aerial Olympic rookie on the men's team is Steve Omischl, a North Bay, Ont., native who has finished fourth in World Cup rankings the last two years and was the 1999-2000 World Cup rookie of the year.
And make no mistake, despite it being his first Olympics, Omischl is focused on what he's going to do in Salt Lake City.
"I'm going down there to podium -- I'm going down there to win," said Omischl, who turns 23 tomorrow.
"I've trained the last couple of years as hard as I can and I don't want to let down my sponsors or the government, so I'm going to do the best I can and win.
"It's as simple as that."
It won't be simple but it is possible Fontaine, Omischl and fellow aerialist Jeff Bean could sweep the men's medals.
2002 Games Ski Jumping Coverage
