The Olympic medals won by Peter Prevc speak not only of his success, but of the success of the Slovenian sport, believes the expert commentator Jelko Gros.
Gros summed up the ski jumping part of the Olympic Winter games for MMC, the part which brought good mood into the Slovenian camp. The season isn't over yet; it will continue with the World Ski Flying Championship, while Peter Prevc will continue his fight for the large crystal globe.
The Slovenian ski jumping expedition is returning from Sochi with two Olympic medals won by Peter Prevc, which is an outstanding achievement.
It is a dream come true: to participate at the Olympic Games, and come home with two medals! A dream of not only every athlete but of every trainer as well. It is a success of the entire team, and of the Slovenian ski jumping sport. And wider – it is a success of the Slovenian sport in general, and of the Slovenian public.
At both individual matches won Kamil Stoch from Poland. What was the decisive advantage he had of Prevc?
The outcome on the large hill could have been completely different had the competitors had the opportunity for a trial jump. In this way, Peter was much less relaxed. He is known for improving his performance with each jump, and a trial jump would have made a difference. Personally I don't see any crucial difference between the two. Each of them has his own style, each of them is better in one kind of weather conditions. Mental stability is very important as well, to avoid mistakes. Actually they only differ in nuances, and consequently one dominates today, the other tomorrow. The chase for the large crystal globe will continue till the end of the season, and it will be very interesting.
The Japanese Noriaki Kasai won two Olympic medals at the age of 41, which is phenomenal. Hardly any ski jumpers still compete at 35.
I can only admire him. It is true that the Japanese, due to their physique, their nutrition, and other elements remain young for longer. It is their way of life. If you look at them you notice their age only when they are 60, at 50 they have no wrinkles yet. So it is partly genetics, which allows them to endure longer. But even more important phenomenon is that he still found motivation for going after top results. I was impressed with Kasai already last year in Planica, when he fell. The doctor advised against continuing the competition, but nobody was able to stop him. At his age his motivation is very high, which makes achieving of such top results possible.
In the World Cup there are hardly any competitions on the intermediate hill. Should there be more, in your opinion? The winner of the largest number of points for the World Cup would then really be the most complete ski jumper.
I think there really should be a couple of competitions more on the intermediate hill, which would also make place for additional organizers of the World Cup competitions. The fact is that ski jumps can't exist without the intermediate hills. We need quality devices on intermediate hills in order to grow new generations, and sometimes they even accelerate the development of some of the young ski jumpers.
Until now only six Slovenian ski jumpers won individual medals at the Olympic Games and World Championships. And then there is Prevc, who is only at the beginning of his career, and already has four medals.
The best description would be that Prevc is very "cool". He enjoys his jumps more than he enjoys the receiving of medals. I guess he doesn't enjoy the circus accompanying the success. He is literally dragged to all kinds of receptions. Well, it is understandable, considering the responsibilities towards fans and sponsors. But on the other hand we must say that the Association is more mature than it used to be. It means that they don't stop at one medal, but are aware that the next competition can bring another success. I remember well Predazzo 1991, when Franci Petek became the World Champion on the large hill. When he won the gold medal, the World Championship ended for us, although another competition on the smaller hill was scheduled a week later. Franci Petek was in top form at the time, and could have won the medal in the second individual match, but at that moment he wasn't adequately prepared mentally to reach for the winning podium once again. The general feeling was: "We have a medal, do we need anything more?"
All who know Peter Prevc well say that he is an unbelievably calm person.
Well, that's on the outside. There is not a person in the world without any emotion in such moments. But the truth is he acts very calm. It is an approach which can get on someone's nerves: five minutes before the match starts he acts (or at least it seems so) as if he came to a training session. At such times he remains calm, he also has a calming influence on the other boys, he is never euphoric. And that is his great advantage.
His development path seems to be also important for his achievements. If we compare him to, let's say Primož Peterka and Rok Benkovič – they exploded as meteors, were successful for a period of time, but later hardly ever repeated those achievements. Prevc developed gradually.
Prevc could have flashed earlier, but his development was somewhat hindered by the injury he got at his fall on the Oberstdorf giant hill. He was ready for phenomenal jumps, and he could have easily achieved an excellent result at the World Giant Hill Championship in Vikersund. The injury delayed his march towards Olympus for one season. Perhaps an injury at that time had a positive impact.
Slovenia won five out of eight team matches in the last two World Cup seasons, and twice finished as third. Considering the statistics, fifth place is a disappointment, but after what we saw during the training, it is the actual range of our team.
We should also take into account the injury of Robi Kranjec. When jumping on the small hill he also reached the fourth and the fifth distance of the run, and each time he finished in the top ten. Then he got injured. We were all under the impression that he could regain the excellent form he had displayed before the injury. And in spite of the injury his form was such that his participation was completely justified. For any wishes to come true we needed him at his best. But the other members of the team remained behind their best achievements. When you consider all that, it is immediately obvious that the medal was out of the reach. The wishes however remained, and big ones! Last year before the World Chamiponship in Predazzo we were almost the »team tour« winners, but we remained without a medal. This year there were two matches, we won both, but still it turned out differently at the biggest match of the season. You always need at least two competitors of excellent form, but for the match we are speaking about three were needed. During the training jumps the Germans' form was very changeable as well, and they might have very easily finished in our place – and now they are the Olympic Champions. I do not consider training runs as an absolute indicator. I must also say that I don't blame the ski jumpers. Of course I am disappointed, as I am their fan and I love ski jumps. But I haven't stopped believing in them because they finished on the fifth place, and I believe that already in Lahti the story will be completely different.
What can you say about the preparation of both hills?
Very good. The ski jumping centre functioned perfectly, the logistics was topmost. It was obvious that they had been studying the systems all over the world for more than four years. The Head of the centre was previously an attache in Vancouvre. The International Ski Association reacted on an expedited basis, and he became the assistant of the technical delegate. In this way he got very well acquainted with the behind-the-scenes of the ski jumping. And it showed – they really did a great job.
What fate is waiting, in your opinion, for the ski jumping centre RusSki Gorki? Will there be any more competitions on the highest level, let's say World Cup competitions?
I don't doubt there could be more matches. But another question has to be considered. There is still room for World Cup matches in December, while the other terms are firmly set, and held only by top organizers. The International Ski Association sees no reasons for, e.g. moving the January competition from Japan, or February competition from Oslo … So, there is still room for any good organizers in December. But considering the level of the ski jumping World Cup, the first thing you need is a good ski jump hill. Next comes tradition, and as third the audience. If you lack one of these three, you can't hope to get a World Cup competition. Perhaps they have space for Nordic Combined, or for female World Cup.
With these games, the first Olympic cycle with wind compensation is completed. It is a mathematical algorithm which additionally condensed the competition.
Had we had the wind compensation in Nagano, Primož Peterka might have won two Olympic medals. Considering that, I am very in favour of wind compensation.
