Word: skis
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...crowd chanted "Matti! Matti!" and his countrymen waved blue-and-white Finnish flags, the superbrat of ski jumping shot down the runway at 54 m.p.h. Body tucked, hands behind his back, he soared off as though someone had slipped a piece of hot charcoal into his ski boot...
...grace for distance. The antistyle may also owe something to Nykanen's fierce personality and determination to do everything his own way. At any rate, it does not seem to cost him style points. Judges are apparently willing to overlook his less than perfect form, presumably because the greatest ski jumper in the world should not be put down on narrow aesthetic grounds...
...year's winner at that end of the Games is a 24-year-old plasterer from Cheltenham, England. Michael Edwards, also known as "Eddie the Eagle," points his toes downslope and fearlessly launches himself on some of the shortest flights known to man. A sweet-tempered cross between fictional Ski Jumpers Spuds MacKenzie and Bob Uecker, Edwards finished dead last (but at least not dead) in the 70-meter jump. He scored with the media and the great unfit majority tuning in with his cheerfully loony answers. (His favorite skier? John Paul II.) After Edwards' promotional appearance at a nightclub...
Then there is the curious case of the judges who do not really matter. In ski jumping, judges can award as many as 20 points for a perfect jump, watching out for such sins of style as bent knees, curved backs, unsteadiness and crossed skis. They also look askance at failure to land with one ski in front of the other, knees flexed, hips bent and arms straight out at the sides -- the so-called telemark position, named after a region in Norway where the sport originated. The final score on a jump is made up of distance plus style...
...positions athletes take while competing often look mystifyingly ungainly, but there are usually practical reasons. Aerodynamic considerations have led ski jumpers to hold their arms at their sides to form an airfoil, getting as much updraft as possible after takeoff from the slope. Downhill racers crouch with their chests to their knees, assuming a near fetal position to cut wind resistance. In luge, sliders lying on their backs and steering with their feet minimize resistance by keeping their limbs aligned and body flat...