ATHLETE PROFILE Bill Demong Home: Vermontville, NY (near Saranac Lake) Current Residence: Steamboat Springs, CO Age: 21 Occupation: Athlete Primary Sport: Nordic Combined

It is not likely that nordic combined athlete Bill Demong will win a medal in the Olympics. At least that's how he'd like you to see it. It is these expectations and speculations that have heightened the pressure on 21-year-old Demong as he heads off to the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City.

Undoubtedly a medal would not only be remarkable for Demong, but also for the United States, which hasn't been in medal contention since the inception of the nordic combined event back in 1924. But for Demong at the moment, the load of medal expectations is a little too much to bear.

Regarding Olympic aspirations Demong remarks, "I just hope to keep doing what I have been doing at World Cups. It would be great if that meant earning a medal, but I could also have the best day of my life and still end up in 8th place."

NATHAN BILOW © 2002 USSA

Nordic combined, as the name implies, combines the two main elements of nordic skiing: cross-country and jumping. The traditional competition is 90-meter jumping and a 15-kilometer ski race, sometimes spread over two days. Today, there are several varieties: individual, sprint, two-man sprint, team competition, and mass-start events.

No winter sport tests an athlete's overall abilities like nordic combined. An athlete must have the explosive power of a ski jumper and the endurance of a cross-country racer. Many events are more spectator-friendly one-day meets; skiers jump in the morning and race in the afternoon or under the lights at night.

The top jumper always goes first in the ski race, according to the Gundersen handicap method. He's pursued by the rest of the field, according to their order of finish in the jumping, and the first skier across the finish line wins.

Bill Demong historically has excelled in jumping and attributes recent success to gains in technique and conditioning in cross-country.

What Demong has been doing most recently in World Cups is winning. On Jan. 20 he rounded out his pre-Olympic competitive season with his first-ever World Cup title in Liberec, Czech Republic. This title was the culmination of a recent crescendo in Demong's competitive career.

Less than two months ago he placed 27th in a World Cup, then ninth and most recently seventh in Ramsau, Austria, and successively, both fourth and first in Liberec. "I didn't really expect to win. I was hoping to be on the podium — but the win was a real confidence booster."

While the win boosted his confidence it catapulted his popularity with the media. In the weeks leading up to the Games, Demong has been inundated with calls from USA Today, Washington Post and a host of other publications. With the attention comes the added pressure … the United States is hoping for a medal, not just Bill Demong.

Demong, however, is taking the recent World Cup win in stride; he says it has given him a sense that a medal is a tangible possibility. Demong is not only in medal contention as an individual but also in the team event. When asked, "So in theory you could come home with more than one Olympic Medal?" Demong modestly replies, "I suppose, theoretically, yes, that is possible."

"In nordic combined,
the level of competition
is so high … I just hope
to do my best."

Demong doesn't have the maverick effect that you would expect from someone who soars off skyscraping towers on a daily basis. He enjoys the regiment of training and living the small-town life in his cabin in Steamboat Springs, CO, where he has made a training base for the last few years. A native of Vermontville (near Saranac Lake), Demong likens his current residence to his hometown. "The Adirondacks is still one of my favorite places on earth, I miss it a lot when I am away," he says. "When I'm home (in the Adirondacks), I spend time outdoors, backcountry skiing with friends on Gothics or climbing Catamount with my dad."

NATHAN BILOW © 2002 USSA

Demong describes the people of the Adirondacks as "super nice and very laid back," and comments, "I think about those kinds of folks a lot when I'm away." He says, "Growing up in the area gave me a lot of opportunities and an interesting perspective on the world."

The opportunities he's referring to include getting started in nordic combined. "Living such a short drive from the Olympic Village (of Lake Placid), signing up for ski jumping is like signing up for soccer practice somewhere else," Demong says. He started cross-country skiing at the age of 5 and discovered ski jumping at the young age of 7.

"When I was 7, the Lake Placid Sports Club put out a video to build enthusiasm and interest in the sport of ski jumping. I think they showed it at one of our cross-country practices. It was set to the song "Jump" by Van Halen. It featured everything from kids going off the ity-bity hills to guys ripping off the 120 (meter ski tower). I remember taking that video home and watching it everyday that spring and begging and pleading with my parents. The next fall, I started in the jumping program and I've been competing in nordic combined ever since," Demong recalls.

Demong will join seven of his U.S. nordic combined teammates for the Salt Lake Games. However, this will not be Demong's first trip to an Olympic Games. As an alternate to the 1998 Olympics in Nagano, Japan, Demong, just 17-years-old at the time, finished 34th overall.

This Olympics should prove to be a much different experience. Not only does he have four more years of training and competition under his belt, the U.S. Team has been making regular trips to train in Salt Lake to familiarize themselves with the venue.

Despite hopes from friends, family, Adirondack supporters and U.S. fans, Demong's aspirations are realistic: "In nordic combined, the level of competition is so high across the board — guys who win one week can have a bad jump or a tough race and be 24th the next week. I just hope to do my best."

After this Olympics Demong sees himself continuing the sport for a few more years, and then pursuing college study. "I plan to compete in nordic combined as long as I continue to improve and keep having fun with it."

Mimi Wacholder resides in Lake Placid, where she works as a freelance writer and marketing consultant with Juniper Promotions. She is a yoga instructor and enjoys hiking, climbing and skiing in the Adirondacks.