The Olympic Gold Medal Ski Jumper is Afraid of Heights

Winter Olympic sports all share some combination of snow and ice, yet vary in technical aspects. It’s almost as if the creators of the different events asked, “What’s a different way I can throw myself down a mountain?”

As Lindsey Vonn illustrated, danger lurks at every turn. Casual observers probably did not realize how treacherous downhill skiing is until NBC used drones to follow the athletes. If you get vertigo, it’s probably best to just turn away.

Few things are as captivating as the ski jumpers. Rather than simply gliding down the mountain, they go straight down a slope, then fly through the air over the length of a football field. They literally call it ski flying because that’s what these athletes are doing.

Ski jumping took center stage in Italy in the “Men’s Normal Hill” event (I don’t even want to know what abnormal hills they’re jumping off the rest of the time). Bystanders witnessed an enormous upset.

Philipp Raimund from Germany has never won a World Cup event in 80 career starts. His best finish to date was fourth in a team event. Then he jumped 106.5 meters through the air and won an Olympic Gold Medal.

“I’ve never won a World Cup, so now I’m Olympic champion and I will be known probably for the rest of my life because I have a gold medal and that is un-(expletive)-believable,” Raimund told reporters after his win.

But wait — it gets more un-(expletive)-believable!

It takes incredible mental fortitude to throw yourself down a mountain and fly more than 100 meters through the air. These Winter Olympic athletes are built different. Raimund is actually built more like you and me.

Any normal person would be too terrified to even think about ski jumping. Last year, Raimund withdrew from an event because he is afraid of heights. I’m not putting words into his mouth either.

“As some of you may know, I am scared of heights.”

WHAT?!?!

He shared that statement on Instagram about a year ago, explaining why he spent time on the sideline during an event.

“As some of you may know, I am scared of heights. I usually have it under control, and it usually isn’t a Problem while ski jumping, but from time to time, I have the issue (mainly while ski flying) that my body is reacting without me controlling it.”

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A post shared by Philipp Raimund (@hilleraimund)

The man who is afraid of heights is the best in the world at jumping from extraordinary heights while flying down a mountain on skis. It’s so unbelievable that you’ll just have to watch it yourself.

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