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When he was a kid growing up in Missoula, Montana, Eric Bergoust was every parent's nightmare. "From the start of my memories," he says, "I was a kid who loved the rush." And to satisfy that need, Eric and his brothers would do things designed to induce coronaries in otherwise healthy parents. Things like hauling mattresses from the house, setting them up on the lawn, then jumping onto them from the roof. Much to his parents' relief, Bergoust emerged from that phase intact ... and graduated to what most people consider full-scale lunacy: aerials. One day when Bergoust was about 13, he was watching TV when he discovered the sport known to normal people as "that skiing event where these maniacs go flying through the air and try not to land on their heads." After that brief introduction, Bergoust began constructing his own snow-kickers (the jump-like lip that catapults an aerialist into the air) in the out-of-bounds area at his local ski area. "I've never been so scared as when I was out jumping on my own," Bergoust says, thankfully demonstrating that he's not totally nuts. "I knew I could get hurt, but I wanted to learn," he continues, dispelling the previous notion that he's sane. Although family archives verify some of his head-first dives into the snow, Bergoust caught on well enough in regional competitions to get himself invited to the Olympic training center in Lake Placid, New York, in 1988. After recording his first World Cup win in 1992, he finally blossomed four years later, winning three world cup events and emerging from the shadow of American great Trace Worthington. Expecting to solidify his rise in 1997, Bergoust was derailed when he broke his right collarbone in five places in a practice accident. After doctors repaired his shoulder with a metal plate, screws and cadaver bones, they informed Bergoust that his recovery would take at least 16 weeks. When pressed, they suggested he might be able to cut the time in half -- still too much if he hoped to compete in the world championships, taking place four weeks hence. Bergoust and his coaches took matters into their own hands, conducting "secret rehab" missions in Colorado Springs. "We designed a program that gave my shoulder just enough movement to do aerials," he says. "It didn't have to be able to do anything else. I didn't have to be able to raise my arms straight up or anything." Bergoust finished second. Bergoust has become an avid student of his sport, studying videotapes as well as anything that flies or spins. "There is a perfect flight in the sport of aerials," he says. "It's physics, it's all about mechanics, and that's what I'm going for." He claims that his quest for the perfect flight is even more important to him than a win. Of course, should he win in Nagano, perhaps he'll rethink his position.
Each day during the Olympics, CNN/SI will bring you TNT's Athlete of the Day, a detailed look at the personalities that spice up the Games. Check back every day for a new athlete, and be sure to catch TNT's daily in-depth coverage of the Winter Olympics.
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