FEATURE-Ski-cross-Young sport set for rousing Games debut

(Repeats feature first moved at 0002 GMT)

By Patrick Vignal

PARIS, Oct 29 (Reuters) - Ski-cross deserves its Olympic status and will offer a spectacular show at next year’s Vancouver Games, says France’s Ophelie David, the exciting young sport’s undisputed queen.

Four skiers hurtle down a twisty, bumpy track shoulder-to-shoulder with winners of heats eventually progressing to the final.

The sport will be making its Olympic debut two years after its Summer Games equivalent, BMX or bicycle motocross, successfully did so in Beijing.

“Honestly, I believe ski-cross deserves to be at the Olympics,” six-times World Cup champion David told Reuters in an interview.

“The sport and race format are modern, crowd-pleasing and perfect for television, just as BMX proved to be in Beijing.”

Like BMX, ski-cross, the youngest member of the freestyle skiing family, is tailored to the tastes of the young audience the International Olympic Committee clearly targets.

Developed as a new, television-friendly event, it is, basically boarder-cross (snowboard-cross) on skis.

After snowboard, added to the Olympic programme at the 1998 Nagano Games, and boarder-cross, introduced in 2006 in Turin, the IOC has now picked ski-cross, which is only a few years old.

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NICE SURPRISE

“When I started ski-cross, it was really underground, so this is a nice surprise,” David said. “I didn’t say to myself ‘at last’, but rather ‘wow, amazing’”.

David, 33, knows her sport is about to reach a whole new dimension.

“Since we’ve got the Olympic tag, the way people look at us has changed,” she said. “We look more serious now and we see the media coming.

“A lot of spectators will discover our sport at the Games and this is a great opportunity. We must live up to it by putting up a good show.”

The mother of a nine-year-old girl, David was born in northern France where her Hungarian father played professional basketball before moving to the French Alps.

Despite her sport’s new status, she feels her own situation had not changed that much.

“I still have the same sponsors and it’s not easy with the ski industry going through tough times,” she said. “I’m not a billionaire and I still try my luck at the EuroMillions lottery. Maybe things will change a bit if I’m an Olympic champion.”

Winning a gold medal can be the only goal for a woman who has captured everything in her sport but it will not be her only challenge this winter.

CRAZY CHALLENGE

“Obviously, I want gold,” she said. “It’s great to tell yourself you have a chance to make history.

“The Olympics will really start with the World Cup events and I want to win them all,” she added.

“I want to win every single event this season. I know it sounds like a crazy challenge but I need crazy challenges.”

The Frenchwoman knows the venue hosting the Olympic ski-cross from her World Cup experience there and described it as picturesque but tricky.

“The track is on a small hill with pine trees around it and the ocean in the background,” she said. “It’s very pretty but with water all around, the snow is very damp and the way you prepare your skis plays an important role.

“It’s very physical with lots of jumps and your feet are more often in the air than on the snow. You have to attack all the time with no place to rest.”

It takes more than that, however, to intimidate her.

“I just can’t wait,” she said. “I know it will come fast but I wish it was tomorrow.”

(Editing by Dave Thompson; To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)