Posted on 03/21/2020 3:10:37 PM PDT by Kid Shelleen
Could you imagine the worst moment of your career being put on display for all to see on a weekly basis for decades? If so, then you can identify with Vinko Bogataj, immortalized by his epic crash off a ski-jumping ramp that came to represent “the agony of defeat.”
Today is the 50th anniversary of the crash during a European competition that literally made him famous by accident. The clip endured for decades as part of the opening for each week’s “Wide World of Sports” and lives on as a YouTube favorite.
(Excerpt) Read more at sportscasting.com ...
My all-time Olympic moment was a hockey game in the mountain village of Lake Placid, New York in February 22, 1980. :-)
Also made the ELO song “Fire on High” famous.
That was CBS' Sports Spectacular
Wow! And he was running out of steep slope. 10 feet higher and 100’ farther, and the landing could have been kinda hard.
I may be wrong, but it seems that the skis are noticably wider than they were 50 yrs ago.
There’s a ski jump in Iron Mountain Michigan. When I was in college, one of my buddies was from the town. A bunch of us spent a long weekend in their family cabin. We decided to go tubing one night around midnight.
The landing hill for the ski jump is incredibly steep. There was a fence in the way but that didn’t slow us down. We climbed the stairs about 3/4 of the way up the hill and made our way to the middle.
Man, that was a very fast run down the hill. Unfortunately I left my car keys somewhere on the hill. Fortunately I had a spare car key so I made it back home.
For the record, adult beverages were not involved. Just a bunch of crazy college kids.
Pine Mountain is still here. Had its international competition in February.
Ah, you are correct!
You mean Pine Mountain. You were crazy on that hill. There is another set of ski jumps in Ishpeming where they train youngsters on a 40 and 70 jump with the long runs down the hillside.
That brought back memories of the ‘Crazy Canucks’ when the WWOS mentioned Ken Read!
Skiing itself isn’t without danger. Sonny Bono and Michael Kennedy died after hitting trees, and F1 Champion Michael Schumacher hit a rock. Ski jumping, IMO, is just asking for a bed in ICU, but it is exciting to watch.
Don’t remember the name. But it was in Iron Mountain. We tubed the landing hill not the jump. Crazy but not stupid
If you had been married to Cher, you would have shied into the tree too.
Yes, the 1980 Olympics. Do you believe in miracles? Yes!
People still ask Al Michaels if he believes in miracles, all these years later. It was a totally unscripted comment from him, and it stuck with him.
Eric Heiden’s Five Golds were to me just as big of a story as the Hockey Team.
LOLOLMAO!!!
I think I would have brought that skank along and sent HER down the slope, and into the forest!
True. I’m a hockey fan, though. :-)
Yes..its all changed now.
You notice he NEVER touched his keester at all when he landed.
Now that’s strength!
I wouldnt doubt that if they extend those landings, they’ll be able to hit a thousand feet soon. Can you imagine being in the air that long?
That was a great run no doubt about it. I have two favorite Olympic memories. One was Shun Fujimoto dismounting the rings with a broken knee to win the Gold for Japan. The second was the ice dancing performance by Torvill and Dean when they got perfect scores while skating to Bolero.
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