Now we’ve got a medal on the team, freestyle will get the help it needs and youngsters will get MORE TIME on the snow


and this experience served her well. Judges were marking riders down for even the slightest technical infringe- ment on ambitiously diffi cult tricks, so Jones played it safe on the second run, focusing on getting down without any errors. The strategy paid off. “I didn’t feel as much pressure as in the semi fi nals. Although I was still nervous, I was more relaxed than ear- lier in the day, which helped me to improve my run,” she says. “If you get nervous you get stiff; your tricks can end up looking awkward and you lose your style. In the fi nal run, things just seemed to go smoothly and I felt like I had more time to enjoy the move- ments and felt positive as I came into land the last trick on the fi nal jump. I knew I had put down that run as well as I could. If nothing else, riding away knowing that was a satisfying feeling.” Jones sat in gold medal position


and was left to nervously watch the remaining 10 competitors. The nation also looked on, gripped. Fifteen min- utes later, Finnish rider, Enni Rukajärvi, pushed her into second place and then the American, Jamie Anderson, put down the gold medal winning run. While the few remaining competitors


were left to go, the BBC commenta- tors, including team mate, Aimee Fuller, gave a wholly impartial, but entertain- ing commentary, voicing what everyone in the country was thinking. Even Andy Murray tweeted: “Jenny Jones! Is it wrong to hope everyone left falls?” Jones says it was the attention she received which set the Olympics apart from other events she’s competed in. “Although it was all positive before- hand, it almost unnerved me getting so many messages of good luck,” she says. “I’m not used to so many people being aware of a snowboard competition. I


34


Jones spent several seasons honing her skills while working part-time jobs


eventually decided to turn off the com- puter and save the messages for later, so I could just concentrate on snow- boarding and try to enjoy myself.” According to the British Olympic Association, three million people watched her race live and more than 20m saw it online, on other BBC pro- grammes, or heard it on the radio. This contributed to Jones being the fourth most talked about athlete at the Games globally.


WHAT’S NEXT? Funding from UK Sport has only been in place since slopestyle became an Olympic discipline in 2012. At that time, British Ski and Snowboard were awarded a small amount of money and told to prove themselves. They’ve done just that. Her medal, and the success of the wider team, is certain to unlock more funding for the sport and means that many more up and coming riders will benefi t. Similarly, her success has encouraged people to fl ock to British ski slopes and snow- domes to try snowboarding. Jones is humble about the impact her achievement is likely to have on the sport: “Now we’ve got a medal on the team, freestyle will get the help it needs for four years, which should mean that youngsters get more time


Read Leisure Management online leisuremanagement.co.uk/digital


on the snow. There are some good ones coming through and hopefully they’ll have good support around them and a good network of people who’ve all experienced their fi rst Olympics. That knowledge and experience will help for the next one.” For young riders who’ve been inspired by her success and have dreams of following in her footsteps, Jones recommends they get as much time on the snow as possible, even in Scotland or in snowdomes: “They don’t need to be going to the big con- tests yet, get the groundwork in and hopefully the support will be there.” Post-Olympics, Jones is very busy.


She says there have been some exciting opportunities and she’s been busy with fi lming and com- menting on the Paralympics, where ParalympicsGB made history again. Shortly after I spoke to her in March, Jones was heading back to Austria to start training, before going on to the US to compete in women’s slope- style at Keystone, Colorado. After this, some photo contest trips were planned to get photos for magazines. Despite having just made history, and being the UK’s most famous snowboarder, I get the impression that Jenny Jones is fi rst and foremost a girl who just loves to snowboard. ●


ISSUE 2 2014 © cybertrek 2014


PHOTO: DAN MILNER WWW.DAN.MILNER.COM


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