LIVIGNO, Italy, Feb 11 (Reuters) - The Olympic freestyle skiers and snowboarders who flip, spin and twist high above the Alps might look fearless, but they say the reality is very different. Fear is part of the job, and they feel it every day.
At the Milano Cortina Winter Games, competitors described fear as a constant companion, whether it is dropping in from high start gates, hitting new jumps or pushing into bigger spins. They said outsiders presume they are immune to fear, but even those with the experience of several Olympics admitted they were often frightened of falls and injury, particularly when attempting new tricks.
"People come up to us and say, ‘Oh, you’re so fearless. Like, how do you not get scared to do these things?'," said American snowboarder Hahna Norman, who competes in the big air and slopestyle events.
"That’s actually not true at all. I think everything we do is really scary, and we all feel scared, but it’s just more managing that fear and doing it anyway, because it’s fun once you get past the scare.”
INTOXICATING FEELING
Canada’s Evan McEachran and Elena Gaskell said they chase the adrenaline that comes with confronting fear, using it to push their limits, while Norway’s Mons Roisland describedthe process of trusting his skills to land a trick as “intoxicating".
"I am not going to be the one to say that it's not scary, but I just love that feeling," said McEachran, a freestyle skier. "I like the adrenaline rush of it, I'm addicted to it and think that's what keeps me going."
Gaskell said she often experienced fear.
"There are so many times where I'm nervous and I'm just like, okay, I've got to do it," she said. "Like at some point, I'm going to have to do it, or else I'm not going to keep progressing as an athlete."
Roisland said spectators and TV viewers see snowboarders performing big tricks as "crazy".
"But we're scared every day," he added.
BIGGER, RISKIER TRICKS
To win medals, snowboarders and freestyle skiers are developing ever more difficult and dangerous manoeuvres in which they flipand twist several meters off the ground and land on ice.
"There's a lot of spinning going on right now, and it's pretty scary," said American snowboarder Red Gerard.
Canadian snowboarder Mark McMorris, speaking a day before he crashed in a big air training run at the Games, said it was sometimes hard to build up the courage to try the riskier tricks.
"So yes, I definitely get scared at times," he said. "It's all part of it."
McMorris hit his head during his fall and was taken off the mountain in Livigno, Italy on a stretcher. He was ruled out of the men's big air event but is hoping to recover in time for the slopestyle competition starting on Monday.
Fighting fear can be especially tough following a major injury. U.S. freestyle skier Grace Henderson knows this only too well having broken both heels and spending weeks in a wheelchair as well as tearingthe same anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in her knee twice.
Snowboarders and skiers often work with therapists after sustaining a serious injury.
"(I am) always super scared the first time coming back from an injury," Henderson said. "The trick that hurt you itself is the first big barrier to get over. With each new injury, there's another level of fear that I have to break through."
(Reporting by Lisa Richwine and Giulia Segreti, editing by Ed Osmond)
