Rider Profile - Freestyle skiing
Name: Jonny Moseley
Hometown: Squaw Valley ski resort, USA
Birthdate: 27 August 1975
Sponsors:
Sprint (US Mobile phone company), Squaw Valley, Sirius FM
Favourite tunes?
Ska music. Bands like Against me, Social distortion, The Specials
Favourite resort?
Squaw Valley but I also like Val d’Isère/Tignes
Favourite trick/run?
Continental laid-out back flip
Made-up trick name: Dinner roll
Words Abigail Challenor
The first Puerto Rican to become a member of the U.S. Freestyle Ski Team
How did you get into skiing?
Well I'm originally from Puerto Rico but My Dad was from North California and I grew up going to Lake Tahoe because he loved it there. He first took me skiing to Squaw when I was four and enrolled me and my brother in a race kids club.
We began freestyle skiing after the movie Hot Dog, made in Squaw, was released. It was about freestyle skiing in its heyday and my brother entered us into a mogul competition the next day.
So how did you shoot too fame?
We were both very young and got good results. I started skiing all summer, won the junior nationals and started coaching kids myself. The next thing I knew I was sponsored and skiing full time. After that it was a stream of competitions from the World Cup to the X Games to the Olympics.
You're famous for your trick the Dinner Roll, why was this so controversial at the time?
As mogul skiing took shape and became an Olympic sport it forced a new generation of freestyle. Kids started going out and doing new things they weren't allowed to do such as grabbing. Inverted tricks were also not allowed but this rule was becoming old school and obsolete and I thought I should be able to do what I wanted. The Dinner Roll was a flat spin 720, I invented it for the X Games and it wasn't technically allowed so I had to adapt it so it wasn't inverted. It was approved by the International Ski Federation but then in the Olympics I came 4th. Lots of people thought I should have won so there was lots of pressure applied to change the rules and the next year they were changed.
So what are you up to now?
Well I have a variety of things that have stemmed from winning the Olympic gold medal in Nagano, Japan 1998. I have been involved with the Warren Miller movies over the past three years, I work on a radio show for the action sports channel Faction, I have some spokesperson duties and I'll be commentating at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics for NBC.
What kind of skiing do you generally do now?
I do the bumps, powder, some big mountain and I like to jump off stuff too.
What has been your scariest moment while skiing?
I've had a couple actually but I was in Alaska filming a while ago and was going fast through some rocks. I came down a chute and thought I was done with the line but then I saw another rock. I put the brakes on and ended up doing a back handspring over the cliff. Luckily it was only about 3m high and I rolled out ok.
What is your happiest memory?
Nothing compares to winning the Olympics - it was an immense feeling of relief and satisfaction. It's hard to emulate that situation.
What do you get up to in the summer?
I'm really into sailboat racing. Last summer I raced in the 505 World Championships in San Francisco in a two-man dinghy.
Who would you most like to ride with?
That's a tricky one because after I won the Olympics I did photoshoots specifically to fulfil that purpose. I've skied with Shane McConkey, Chris Davenport, Stein Eriksen, Billy Kidd, Franz Klammer. I've never actually skied with Warren Miller despite being involved in his movies and Bode Miller, he'd be good to cruise around with.
What's your favourite noise?
Well I have a two-year-old son – he makes some pretty good sounds. He does these baseball impressions that are pretty funny.
What's your favourite mountain food?
Spaghetti and meatballs.
What's your favourite youtube appearance?
Well I have no idea how many are out there but probably one called TGR's "The Realm" Moseley Segement. It shows me working on early dinner rolls.
Daily Mail Ski & Snowboard Magazine
