Fly on, Speedy

Those who know me know I LOVE the Olympics. Especially the Winter Olympics. It's one of my most favorite things in the entire world. My favorite event, which I fell in love with during it's Olympic debut in Lillehammer in 1994, is freestyle aerials. I had just started taking ski lessons at Bryce Resort and wished so hard I could take aerial lessons. Instead, I just threw myself down the hill as fast as I could and envisioned myself flipping in the air. If I was an Olympian (heck, if I could just do it as a regular athlete), that'd be my sport.

The sport lost a great one yesterday. Jeret "Speedy" Peterson, 2010 Olympic silver medalist and 2006 US Nationals gold medalist, committed suicide. He was one of my favorites - as I'm sure many who love the sport would say too. He flew beautifully and was an amazing daredevil. His signature move, The Hurricane, included a quintuple twist, triple backflip and may have been crashed more than landed but man, when he landed it.... INSANE! I was so, so sad to read the news article of his death today. In his honor, here's a clip of him landing The Hurricane: