Home

John Russell

John Russell's sports column appears Sundays in Steamboat Today. Contact him at 871-4209 or e-mail jrussell@SteamboatToday.com.

Steamboat Springs — Fifty years ago, you could have found Ted Farwell perched at the top of a ski jump in Steamboat Springs, waiting for his chance to jump into Nordic combined history.

It was 1960, just a few weeks before the Olympic Games, and Farwell was one of a few Amer­ican Nordic combined skiers hoping to land a spot in Squaw Valley, Calif. He went on to win the event, actually two out of three, jumping on a hill that was 200 feet, or roughly 60 meters, and skiing straight ahead (classic), as he likes to say.

This week, there will be about 20 young skiers hoping to follow in Farwell’s footsteps at the 2010 U.S. Olympic Trials at Howelsen Hill. They will be flying off a bigger hill and skiing faster than Farwell ever dreamed possible.

Hopefully, there will be a large, loud crowd to cheer these athletes to victory, and that’s where you will find Farwell, hoping to witness a little bit of the history he helped write.

Farwell says he has no plans to go to the Olympics, but like millions of Ameri­cans, he plans to watch them unfold on television from a comfortable chair in his home.

“Next week in Steamboat, that will be as close as I get to Vancouver,” Farwell said last week. “I’m glad that the Olympic Trials are going to be held in Steamboat Springs and that I will have the chance to see Todd (Lodwick), Billy (Demong) and Johnny (Spillane) jump and run.”

A lot can change in 50 years, and the 78-year-old Farwell, who placed 11th in the Nordic combined event at the 1952 Olympic Games in Oslo, Norway, understands that things move forward.

In his day, Nordic combined skiers jumped on smaller hills and used the classic technique in the cross-country portion of the event.

“A lot has changed,” Far­well said from his home in Long­mont. “I was in Steam­boat for Labor Day weekend and took a look at the jumping complex. Wow, I never dreamed of such a magnificent facility. … Nordic skiing is way different today from the 1950s. I love it.”

Farwell still remembers when Wren introduced him to the idea of year-round ski jumping — in a time long before plastic-covered jumps.

Farwell said Wren decided to haul a load of ice from an icehouse near Steamboat, crush it into a fine powder and then cover the jumps.

“It worked,” Farwell said. “Of course, we had to jump quickly before the ice melted.”

But even with the changes, some of the core parts of Nordic combined skiing have remained steady.

Farwell said he thinks today’s athletes display the same desire to represent their country at the Olympics and that most pursue the sport not for money, but out of love.

That love is why you will find dozens of American athletes at Howelsen Hill this week, and that’s where you will find guys like Ted Farwell, and a little piece of Olympic history.