Ski jumpers struggle to make ends meet

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) - No money, no opening ceremonies and maybe no really meaningful competition. It's not easy being a part of the U.S. Olympic Ski Jumping team.

Not only will the cash-starved American squad miss the opening ceremony Friday night, they face the possibility of being eliminated from their first event before the Olympic cauldron is even lit. Qualifying for individual normal hill jumping starts Friday afternoon in Whistler, a two-hour ride from Vancouver, site of the opening ceremony.

With first jumps for qualifiers on Saturday morning, Anders Johnson, Nick Alexander and Peter Frenette can't be in both places.

"I definitely wanted to go to opening ceremonies but wasn't going to be too bummed out if I couldn't," said Frenette, a 17-year-old from Lake Placid, N.Y. "It's more important to do well."

It takes a lot to "bum out" the three young men competing in a sport that hasn't received full funding since the 2006 Games. Today's jumpers rely on family for most of the $20,000 a year it costs each compete, choosing their sport ahead of college even if it means mowing lawns, washing dishes, and scooping ice cream to pay the bills.

They started their own private team, called Project X, from scratch three years ago, hiring their own coach for a group of top U.S. juniors, and finding their own sponsors.

"It's really difficult to do with how the economy is now," Johnson said. "It's huge sacrifice for us. Nick and I should be moving onto college, but we're sacrificing that part of our life for our sport. And it's an even bigger sacrifice for our family to work that extra bit to keep that Olympic dream alive for us."

They stay in the cheapest hotels they can find, wax their own skis and even sew their own ski suits to keep going.

"It's just a leap of faith that one day we will get funding if results are improving," Frenette said.

They have, with Alexander, a 21-year-old from Lebanon, N.H., qualifying for six International Ski Federation (FIS) World Cups. Anders Johnson, 20, competed in Turin, Italy, in 2006 before blowing out his knee last summer, and Frenette is coming off a top-20 finish in Japan. As if the pressure of making it past Olympic qualifying weren't enough, they are keenly away how much a strong showing would mean to their sport.

"Ski jumping isn't exactly a huge sport in the U.S., and it's kind of a constant struggle for us to make it well known," said Johnson, who came back from a torn ACL in July in just three months and qualified for the Olympics at the last minute. "It's definitely tough for us because we don't have much support, and finances are pretty rough for our team. We do best we can, but it takes a few breakthrough results to get yourself known."