Bloom Sixth In Olympic Freestyle Moguls
SAUZE d'OULX, Italy (AP/Staff Reports) -- Jeremy Bloom can now return to his dreams of pursuing a football career, but unfortunately, will not have an Olympic medal to show after years of trying to do both at the same time.
The two-sport star finished sixth on the Olympic moguls course Wednesday in what will probably be the last stop in a skiing career that forced him to put his football ambitions on hold.
America's only medal went to Toby Dawson, who finished third, behind silver medalist Mikko Ronkainen of Finland and champion Dale Begg-Smith of Australia, who has dominated this sport the past few months.
Bloom was one of the faces to watch in these Olympics. His good looks and a good storyline -- he gave up football because the NCAA wouldn't let him pursue ski endorsements at the same time -- made him one of the most compelling figures in Italy.
But his 25-second run down the mountain was pretty average by his standards -- a big splash of snow flew up after he landed poorly on his second jump. He nodded knowingly at the bottom of the hill after his score popped up, placing him in fourth, out of the medals with three more skiers to go.
"I knew I had made a mistake," he said. "I came here to accomplish my goals. I didn't come here to win any certain color medals. I was so close, you know."
Bloom bumped around a little on his ride through the moguls between the first and second jumps _ nothing terrible, but noticeable nonetheless. The landing after his second jump was what really did him in, a result of over-rotating his 720-degree, off-axis spin. Snow flew up behind him as he hit the ground with the back of his skis, his knees bending too much to call it championship form.
At the bottom, he smiled and raised his hand, although it looked more like a sigh of relief than a victory fist pump. When his score came up, Bloom nodded knowingly.
U.S. freestyle coach Jeff Wintersteen said nobody should have expected his star to coast to a medal.
"A lot of people made the assumption that it was in the bank, but it wasn't," Wintersteen said. "I thought Jeremy handled the pressure extraordinarily well. His run was quite good, he just made a little error and it ended up costing us."
The next stop on Bloom's journey will be the NFL scouting combine, which starts next week in Indianapolis. In the buildup to the Olympics, he insisted the journey to Italy was more meaningful to him than the final results.
And in the end, he felt the same way.
"I'm happy with the way I skied and I'm happy with the experience that I had here," said the dominant freestyle skier of 2005. "So there's not much to look down upon."
Fair or not, it still begs the question of whether his plate may have been too full.
Dawson, on the other hand, had pursued skiing with single-minded tenacity during the last four years after he had a self-described meltdown in the qualifying process for the 2002 Games.
This was not about glamour for the South Korean-born, American-adopted 27-year-old, but rather the hard work of improving on the technical side of making his way through the moguls. Turns count for half a skier's score and Dawson thought he could make himself stand out by going at them more aggressively -- carving is the term -- on his way down the steep, slippery hill.
It made a big enough impression to earn him the bronze, the first and only medal for U.S. men or women in their two days on the moguls course.
Travis Mayer, the silver medalist in 2002, finished seventh and announced his retirement, while teammate Travis Cabral came in ninth.
Begg-Smith won for the fourth time in the last five competitions, the only exception being a second-place finish in the Czech Republic earlier this month. His score of 26.77 was 0.15 points ahead of Ronkainen, who was one of the best in the world earlier in the decade but had been struggling this season.
Begg-Smith flew higher and was more graceful than anyone on his airs, his skis parallel on the 720-degree, off-axis spin that essentially won it for him on the final jump of the final run of the day.
While he and the other medalists will move onto the next ski event, Bloom has a different agenda. It includes heading back to the States and trying to get into some semblance of football shape before the workouts in Indy.
With five touchdowns of 75 yards or more during his two-year college career at Colorado, he figures to get at least a look. Still, at 5-foot-9, 175 pounds, he's small by NFL standards. and he'll have to be at his best during the next few months.
He wasn't Wednesday, which left him looking ahead almost before he caught his breath at the end of the run.
"It's great to have that right now -- something that's such a big challenge right ahead of me," Bloom said.
Bloom is the reigning World Cup moguls champion and finished ninth in the 2002 Winter Olympics at Salt Lake City.
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Bloom lettered at wide receiver and kick returner for the Buffaloes in 2002 and 2003, scoring the first time he touched the ball on a 75-yard punt return against Colorado State. He also caught the longest pass in school history, a 94-yard touchdown catch and run from Robert Hodge in a 35-31 win against Kansas State in 2002. In 2003, he led the Big 12 Conference in return yards.
However, badly in need of money to continue his hopes of making the U.S. team and winning a medal in the 2006 Olympics, he started accepting endorsement money early in 2004; the NCAA would not change its stance on allowing him to do so, and he was declared ineligible for collegiate competition.
Several appeals filed by CU were denied, and the bottom line was that Bloom was thus forced to quit football because the NCAA wouldn’t allow him to earn money to fund his skiing career. The NCAA does allow some athletes to make millions as professionals in traditional sports such as baseball while retaining their amateur status in another, but ruled Bloom's situation was different because it involved endorsements, even though that is the only traditional way skiers have to fund their careers.
His complete football biography appears below; details on Jeremy’s event in Turin:
Results: http://www.nbcolympics.com/results/1549005/detail.html#day5
More info: http://www.nbcolympics.com/freestyle_m_moguls/index.html
BLOOM’S FOOTBALL CAREER AT COLORADO
CAREER SNAPSHOT? He had five career plays of 75 yards or longer (two receptions, two punt returns, one kickoff return), tied with Byron White for the second most in school history, and just one behind the leader, Ben Kelly (six between 1997-99). He finished his career eighth in punt return yards (625), tied for fifth in punt return touchdowns (2), 11th in kickoff return yards (627), 57th in receiving yards (458) and 48th in all-purpose yards (1,792).
2004 (Jr.)?In early September, the NCAA denied a final CU appeal for reinstatement for Bloom to be able to play college football and still ski professionally so he could keep alive his hopes to represent the United States in moguls skiing in the 2006 Winter Olympics (Turin, Italy). He accepted endorsement money in the winter to be able to continue skiing on the World Cup circuit, a violation of NCAA rules even though he was an amateur in football. The process dragged out over the entire summer, and Bloom left campus in August to train in Chile while the NCAA weighed his case. Despite evidence of previous rulings (Iowa’s Tim Dwight ran track after collecting endorsement money as a pro football player), an “independent” NCAA appeals committee ruled against Bloom a final time on August 24, ending his collegiate career. If eligible to play, he figured to be CU’s top return man for punts and kickoffs, as well as a key player in the rotation at wide receiver (he would have been one of just two returning receivers who had receptions in 2003). Street & Smith’s selected him as a preseason honorable All-America at kick returner, where The Sporting News listed him as the No. 8 player in the nation.
2003 (Soph.)?He was an all-around weapon; for the season he had 80 touches for 1,286 yards, or 16.1 per touch. Most of those came on kick returns, as he led the Big 12 Conference in total kick return yards with 878, ranking fifth in the league in kickoff returns (30th NCAA) and sixth in punt returns (21st NCAA). He returned 24 kickoffs for 589 yards (24.5 per), including an 88-yard kickoff return for a touchdown against Kansas State, along with 24 punt returns for 289 yards, an average of 12.0 per. He caught 22 passes for 356 yards (16.2 per reception), with one touchdown, an 81-yard catch and run at Florida State. He had at least one reception in 11 games, with a season and career-high of five for 97 yards in a 50-47 overtime win over Kansas. One of his biggest grabs was an acrobatic 33-yard catch in the final stages of CU’s 42-35 win over Colorado State; it set the table for Bobby Purify’s winning TD run with 40 seconds left. His other touches came on rushes, a combination of reverses or quick handoffs, as he had 10 attempts for 52 yards with a long of 19. He earned second-team all-Big 12 honors from the league coaches at kick returner (honorable mention by the Associated Press); he also was the Special Teams Player of the Year in Colorado as selected by the state’s chapter of the National Football Foundation and College Football Hall of Fame (and was a first-team member of its All-Colorado team). The CU coaches named him winner of the Bill McCartney Award, presented for special teams achievement, as he was twice selected as CU’s special teams player of the week (for the Baylor and Kansas State games). In that Baylor game, he set a school record for the most kick return yards in a game by a Buff with 250 (143 kickoff, 107 punt). He announced on June 4 that he was resuming his college football career, as he was not enrolled in spring classes at CU after returning to competitive skiing (he did take a correspondence course allowed by NCAA rules specifically for Olympic athletes). He made a “cameo” appearance in the spring game, fielding a punt in street clothes in the second quarter (after the whistle, a few players “dog-piled” on him for laughs).
2002 (Fr.)?As a kick return man, he was a first-team Freshman All-America team member by both the FWAA and collegefootballnews.com, which also selected him as an honorable mention choice on its overall team; The Sporting News tabbed him a third team frosh All-American. He saw action in 13 games, including the Alamo Bowl (no starts; he missed the USC game due to a broken sesamoid bone in his left foot) and had quite an impact, as he was electric almost every time he touched the ball. By the time the season was over, he participated in three of the five longest plays involving a true freshman in CU history. The first time he touched the ball as a collegian, he returned a punt 75 yards against Colorado State to get the Buffs on the scoreboard in the fourth quarter. Against Kansas State, he had a 94-yard catch and run reception for a touchdown, the longest pass play in school history (also his first career catch). And versus Oklahoma in the Big 12 Championship, an 80-yard punt return for six turned the momentum CU’s way for a time in the third quarter. Including the bowl game, he averaged 15.0 yards for 23 punt returns to rank 13th in the nation (he was fifth at 16.8 through the regular season, but the NCAA included bowl stats for the first time). He was the first CU freshman (true or redshirt) to return more than one punt for scores in a single season. After the Big 12 Championship game, he began training for the ski season, taking his final exams early as he left Dec. 15 for Finland to compete in a FIS World Cup event (he rejoined the team in San Antonio for the bowl; in Finland, he missed a bronze medal in the moguls by two-hundredths of a second). He returned three punts against Wisconsin in the Alamo Bowl (for a net 8 yards). Prior to the start of fall drills, he challenged the NCAA in court, as he wants to pursue a promising skiing and endorsement career outside of football. Though chastising the NCAA for missing an opportunity to do the right thing, the judge upheld the enforcement of its rules by the NCAA in ruling against Bloom. He and his attorneys have appealed, and the case is still active as of June 2003.
2001?He wound up delaying his enrollment to pursue his dream of making the U.S. Olympic ski team for the 2002 Winter Olympics, which he accomplished (see skiing notes below). He did report with his class for fall camp, participated in the freshman and a couple of varsity practices, and then left for San Diego for training.
HIGH SCHOOL?As a senior, he earned PrepStar and SuperPrep all-Midlands honors, as he was listed as the No. 68 player overall (the seventh receiver) in the area by SP. He also earned first-team all-state from the Denver Post and all-area honors. As a senior, he caught 48 passes for 1,116 yards and 12 touchdowns, and ran a few successful reverses, gaining about 200 yards on five attempts. He also occasionally returned punts. As a junior, when he garnered all-area accolades, he caught 19 passes for 550 yards and six touchdowns. His career totals were thus: 67 catches for 1,666 yards and 18 touchdowns. He was on the junior varsity as a sophomore, and was the quarterback (and a defensive back) on the freshman team. His top games include a 35-12 win over Lakewood in the 2000 state playoffs, when he broke three school records with nine receptions for 204 yards and four touchdowns. He also had 135 yards on four receptions in a win over Northglenn, and as a junior, he opened the year with four catches for 110 yards and two scores in a 14-12 win. Against Rampart in the 2000 playoffs, he had his best day as a runner, rushing three times for 85 yards. Loveland was 13-1 his senior year, claiming the Colorado 4A state championship, and was 8-2 his junior year under coach John Poovey. He has lettered in track three times (relays, sprints), and is a three-time all-state performer; he helped Loveland to the state title his junior year as a member of the 4x200 relay team.
ACADEMICS?He was a communication major at Colorado, and was in good academic standing when the NCAA ruled against him (he has every intention of completing his degree). He was an honor roll student all four years in high school, and maintained a 3.0 grade point average at CU despite his hectic travel schedule.
PERSONAL?Born April 2, 1982 in Fort Collins. He selected Colorado over Colorado State and Wyoming, as it was evident he wasn’t looking to go very far away from the mountains. His hobbies include skiing on a football questionnaire, and football on a skiing one. For his accomplishments in both, the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame named him the Colorado Amateur Athlete of the Year for 2002, while Mile High Sports magazine named him the state’s athlete of the year. In March of 2003, he won the 30th annual Superstars Competition that took place in Jamaica; he defeated nine professional athletes in the competition, of which all had to choose seven of 10 events to participate. Bloom excelled, including wins in the half-mile run and the 100-yard dash (which he accomplished in 9.41 seconds). He donated his $45,000 prize to charity, as the NCAA rules prohibited him from keeping it.
RECEIVING PUNT RETURNS
Season G No. Yds Avg. TD Long No. Yds Avg. TD Long
2002 12 2 102 51.0 1 94t 20 336 16.8 2 80t
2003 12 22 356 16.2 1 81t 24 289 12.0 0 37
Totals 24 24 458 19.1 2 94t 44 625 14.2 2 80t
ADDITIONAL STATISTICS?Kickoff Returns: 1-38, 38.0 (2002), 24-589, 24.5, 88 long, 1 TD (2003). Rushing: 5-30, 6.0, 26 long (2002); 10-52, 5.2, 19 long.