Sunday, February 10, 2002
One Heil of a showing!
By TERRY JONES -- Edmonton Sun
DEER VALLEY, Utah - Tears flooded her eyes, but not the kind of cold tears you usually see in the eyes of someone who just finished fourth. Not the kind of tears you expected to see in the eyes of someone, who just, in the eyes of some, just got robbed.
Normally, there's nothing worse than finishing fourth at the Olympic Winter Games. There's no medal. There's no flowers. All you get is to be forgotten.
There's fourth and then there's fourth - fourth by 1/100th of a point.
And not just fourth by 1/100th of a point but fourth with people saying you should have won silver, you should have won bronze, you should have won Canada's first medal of the Salt Lake City Olympic Games.
But the tears in the eyes of Jennifer Heil were warm, the same tears she'd have had if she'd won a medal.
The 18-year-old from Spruce Grove didn't for a single second contemplate the thought that she was a loser. And, when you think about it, she was right. To Canada, a star was born.
Heil was at the finish line, having just watched her name go from No. 3 to No. 4 on the leaderboard when the last skier, gold medal winner Kari Traa of Norway, crossed the line. Heil had just hit the media mixed zone when her mom Heather burst through and gave her a huge hug.
"She said 'Good job. You're amazing.' '' said Jennifer.
A few minutes before the American coach suggested that the day had been well-judged but if the judges might have wanted one back, it would have been Jennifer Heil of Canada.
SATISFACTION
"I actually thought Jen Heil was awesome,'' Jeff Wintersteen told a media scrum of mostly American reporters, there, to get the goods on the United States' first Olympic medal, the silver won by Shannon Bahrke.
A few minutes later the Russian coach interrupted Heil as she talked to Canadian reporters.
"You were second,'' he told her.
But it didn't matter to Heil.
"I missed the medals by 1/100th. I know that. But I came out there and did what I wanted to do. I thought I was fairly judged.
"I'm almost as satisfied by doing what I did as by winning a medal.
"I was pretty excited to see that I was that close,'' added Canada's youngest Olympian. "I know I did a good job. I know I was as good as I could be.
"I had one of the fastest times out there.
"I'm still so excited to be here. All week I was always in tears just because I'm here, I'm an Olympian. This is my dream.
"The only thought I had going up the chairlift was to be the best I could be. I gave it 100 per cent. I'm just really excited to be part of this and continuing to just be better than I was the day before.''
Maybe today it will hit her. Maybe, as she watches athlete after athlete climb on the podium and have the medals hung around their necks, she'll cry those other kind of tears.
But not at the bottom of the stunning venue here where more than 13,000 fans watched her on the bubble, the storyline of the whole show and the whole day when Tae Satoya of Japan ended up with a score of 24.85 to Heil's 24.84 in the system which combined time on the course and judging on the jumps.
Two-time world champion and four-time Olympian Traa scored 25.94 to win it but looked for all the world like she thought she'd lost it when she hit the finish line. Bahkre scored 25.06. Canadians Kelly Ringstad and Tami Bradley finished 13th and 14th in the 16-woman final.
Heil, who was ninth after the qualifying competition earlier in the morning, figured if she'd been maybe fifth or so, it might have made the difference in a medal. While they supposedly start over again in the final with no-carryovers, it doesn't really work that way.
NOT THE AGONY
But she didn't stay on that thought but for a second. She didn't seem to go through the agony that an amazing number of flag-waving Canadians in the crowd seemed to go through as her medal hopes hung in there until the last bump.
"It was more nerve-racking getting set-up,'' she said of the start.
She talked about how amazed she was that she fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow the night before.
"I really fell asleep pretty quick,'' she said.
She stuck with her routine in the morning.
"I always eat oatmeal,'' she said.
"I wear the same long underwear.
"I do wash them,'' she added.
Heil said she's just beginning her career. It was only 18 months ago when she figured her Olympics would be in Turin, Italy. But then she came out of nowhere, winning a silver and bronze on the World Cup circuit and rookie of the year in her sport.
"This is definitely a good stepping stone for my future,'' she said.
"We're proud of her,'' said dad Randy. "It's hard to be that close and not get a medal. But she's young and she's going to have other opportunities.''
Jennifer Heil didn't win a medal here yesterday. But she won a lot of fans to follow her through to her future.
2002 Games Freestyle Skiing Coverage
