|
|
June 24, 25, 26th Malibu Open (Douseman, Wisconsin)
 What a weekend! After an extremely disappointing score my first round which would not get me through to the semi-finals I went down to watch the men’s slalom skiing. The first skier would be Dr. Jim Michaels. The event had been highly publicized and this guy, the owner of the event lake, had been the center of attention. I kept asking myself if a man, who seemed quite new to the sport, in his late 40’s was really capable of beating all of these extremely tuned professional athletes. It seemed impossible to me, but I gave the guy the benefit of the doubt after hearing from reliable sources that this guy was the real deal.
He skied 3 buoys at 39off (10.75meters) in the preliminary round of the Malibu Open, which seemed like a respectable score that would more than likely get him through to the next semi-final round. Little did I know what was going on at the end of the lake near the start dock. I had been watching from the shore directly across from the course with Glenn Campbell, my boyfriend. After several minutes no one else was on the water and Glenn Campbell (top male slalom skier, UK), myself, and Will Asher (top male slalom skier, UK) began wondering why there had been such a long hold up. Suddenly Mandy Nightingale (World Champion female trick skier, USA) ran down the shore and told us that the course had supposedly moved to his benefit and some of the skiers at the end of the lake actually saw the course move in and out! I honestly could not believe this information, we thought maybe Mandy was confused or had gotten the wrong story from someone. So we all walked down to the end of the lake where everyone had been watching and sure enough more than a dozen competitors had seen the buoys move in before he skied about 3 feet and back out after he finished skiing. Lori Kruegar (female slalom skier and jumper, USA) had caught the entire thing on video.
The entire weekend was filled with questioning and talking about the incident. We all just couldn’t believe that someone would cheat like this. What were they thinking? They apparently did not take into account that the jump course would also be in, which would align with the slalom course, and reveal that the slalom buoys were moving. Without that jump course in, who knows, he probably would have gotten away with it! In the history of our sport I have never heard of anyone cheating like this. I think it is sad that someone has gone so far to win in sport. I think it is sad for him and sad for us all that someone has gone to such lengths to get attention and exposure. Although this cheating scandal has been embarrassing for us all as far as our sport goes, I think pro skiers need to realize that in a way this says something about what we do. We do not get to the top level of our sport quickly or without immense effort and often decades of training. Most of the professional water skiers are real athletes who dedicate their lives to this sport and it takes many of us a few years to even make cuts at professional events. There is no quick formula for success in water skiing, it just requires time and a lot of hard work
back to travel diary | top of page
|
