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Ski jumper overcomes adversity
Shelley Osterloh
KSL-TV
At 19, Jeret Peterson is living a dream as a member of the U.S. Ski Team and an Olympian. Olympic Specialist Shelley Osterloh reports.
"I'm just out there having fun, and that's what counts," Peterson says.
We first spotted Jeret when he was just sixteen, the youngest member of the U.S. Ski team.
Coaches could see that he had potential, but he also had some serious problems. Sexually abused as a toddler, he was an angry and frustrated adolescent.
Skiing helped him work through his problems.
"It's taught me that it's okay not to win," he says. "That it's okay to lose and become second. And that nobody's perfect."
He continues, "I know that I'm definitely not the only one who's had to deal with adversity in their life. I feel I've done very well with the cards that I've been dealt with in life."
His impressive performance at the Gold Cup and on the World Cup circuit this season earned him a spot on the Olympic team.
Members of his high school football team were a hit with the crowd, as was Peterson, who laid down some great jumps and celebrated his sucess.
"I kind of succumbed to peer pressure and had to join them," he admits. "So I whipped my shirt off and I was just one of the gang."
Jeret says he is grateful for the loving support he's received from his mother and members of the U.S. Ski team, who have, in sense, all helped helped raise him.
When he was just 14, the Boise YMCA asked him to write a goal.
"This was back probably in '96 or '97. I put '2002 Olympic gold medalist.' And, I believed in myself ever since then, and I'm still believing in myself to this day," he says.
And whether or not he wins the gold, that's the attitude of a winner, whether it's in competing in the Olympics or succeeding at life.
Peterson jumped well Saturday in the qualifying round and will move on to the finals on Tuesday.
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February 17, 2002
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