Freestyle Skiing - Jacqui Cooper

Jacqui in Whistler, 2001

Jacqui Gets Big Air

If you want to be a top freestyle skier, you have to have great balance, be very acrobatic, and have no fear. Let's face it, when you're flying down an icy mountain at 70 miles per hour then launching off a ramp hundreds of feet into the air - you can't be a big wuss. And that's what makes Australia's Jacqui Cooper so good at her sport. There's nothing she's really afraid of.

Ever since Jacqui was really young, she's been trying crazy stunts. When Jaqui was 4 years old, during a car ride with her mom, she climbed out the back window and got on top of the roof. Her mom never even noticed and Jacqui sat on the roof rack for almost two miles, while her mom kept driving! It was only when her mom pulled into the garage and Jacqui said "Hey Mom, you almost bumped my head when you pulled in," that Mrs. Cooper found out.

Jacqui started freestyle-skiing when she was 16. She was spotted by a ski coach who saw her doing flips and turns in the sand dunes in Australia. He told her she would be good at freestyle and she took if from there. Jacqui has now won 19 world cup medals and is the only woman to complete both double and triple twisting, triple back somersaults. That could be because she's always been seeing doubles and triples - she is a triplet. Her sisters, Sarah and Fiona, are big supporters and often come out to watch her high-flying acrobatics.

Jumpin' Jacqui