Heavy Medal Tour


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Brett Camerota
2010 WINTER OLYMPIC GAMES:
Silver Medal: Team Event

Olympics - 2006, ‘10; Worlds - 2007
6th in '07 sprint, 8th in mass start (Stryn, NOR)
Two World Cup-B top-15s in '05
Three-time Junior Worlds competitor

BIOGRAPHY
The Camerota family moved to Park City when Brett was 6; he could see the jumps at Utah Olympic Park was wanted to try ski jumping as soon as he could. In his young career, he's gone on to compete in the 2006 Olympics and three Junior World Championships. He and his twin brother Eric are part of the next wave of talent for the combined team.

UPDATE
Brett returned during the 2009 season to being a World Cup point scorer in multiple events, and he notched off two top 30 results last year as well. The highlight of the season for Brett, though, was competing on the World Championship team in the gundersen event. Look for Brett to make a play for the Olympic team in 2010.

OLYMPIC SEASON
Camerota has been having a consistent season leading up to Vancouver. He's had a top 20 finish and several top 35 finishes in the 2010 World Cup tour.

FIRST TRACKS
Utah Olympic Park was just opening when the family settled into Park City in the early Nineties. The jumps seduced the Camerota twins and, as they grew, they added cross country and became combined skiers. Brett competed in three Junior World Championships (best result: 21st in the individual in 2003 in Solleftea, SWE).

FIRST WORLD CUP
Jan. 29, 2006 in Seefeld, AUT (28th in individual event)

OLYMPICS/WORLDS
2007 Worlds - 31st in individual event. 2006 Olympics - 38th in individual.

I AM
A twin, despite closeness in looks to my brother Eric, we are fraternal - not identical - twins...Enjoy alpine skiing as well, but come summer my favorite sports are golf and perhaps a little paintball...Plays guitar...Put snowmobiling on hold, by and large, until I finish my ski career...




Todd Lodwick
2010 WINTER OLYMPIC GAMES:
Silver Medal: Team Event


Five-time Olympian ('94, '98, '02, '06, ‘10)
Seven-time World Champions team member ('95, '97, '99, '01, '03, '05,'09)
2010 Olympic Silver medalist)
2009 World Championship gold (mass start)
2009 World Championship gold (Gundersen)
4th in '05 World Cup rankings (top-8, '98-2005 season)
Career: Six World Cup victories
2004 German Grand Prix Champion
All-time U.S. Olympic best: 5th, 7th in 2002; and 4th in team event
26 World Cup top-3s
USA record 17 U.S. titles (9 combined, 8 jumping)
Swept U.S. Combined, jumping titles '04, '05 and '06

BIOGRAPHY
Todd Lodwick, who returned to competition in '09 after a two-year retirement, redefined the idea of U.S. success in nordic combined right from his first international meet. He won that first competition – an International Cup meet, as they called it in those days - to open the 1994 Olympic season and has piled up unprecedented success for an American: Junior World Championships gold in 1996, six World Cup wins, the 2004 Grand Prix championship in the World Cup season and Summer Grand Prix title, and eight straight seasons of being in the top nine world rankings. After a retirement from the sport, Lodwick returned in 2009 to become a two-time World Champion.

UPDATE
At the start of the 2009 season the nordic combined world wondered, after a two year hiatus from a sport that requires constant training to be at peak performance, what was Lodwick going to be able to accomplish? Lodwick answered that question as he lived through a season-long fairytale that brought new levels of success with each turn of the page. Deciding to return to the sport, Lodwick had to earn his way back to competing at the World Cup level. Three consecutive Continental Cup wins and a second place later, and Lodwick was on his way to Germany - the site of his first World Cup performance since March of 2006. He proved his success was not limited to the Continental Cup level by taking two second place finishes in Oberhof. After another three top-15 finishes, Lodwick made his way to the competition that spurred his desire to make a comeback - World Championships. In Liberec, Czech Republic, Lodwick's dreams came true, twice! He opened the event with a gold in the mass start event and two days later had a gold in the Gundersen. "Words cannot describe it. The biggest thing about my comeback was World Championships. This is a dream come true and a crazy fairytale that someone dreamt up for me to come out of retirement to ski at World Championships and win a medal," Lodwick said. "That was my book, the book that I wrote. If you believe it's possible, then anything is possible." Lodwick plans to take that attitude with him as he works toward the 2010 Olympics.

OLYMPIC SEASON
Loddwick started off the 2010 Olympic campaign with a bang, winning two Continental Cups. Loddwick recently added two World Cup podiums to his resume,with sights are set on gold in Vancouver.

FIRST TRACKS
Like many young skiers, he toyed with both jumping and combined before deciding in the summer of 1991 to stick with combined (older brother Kris was a combiner). In November '93, he competed what now would be called a Continental Cup in Lillehammer to open the Olympic season; two years later, he became the first U.S. skier to win a nordic combined World Cup; making it even more tasty was winning in front of his family and friends in Steamboat. Six weeks later, Lodwick was JWCs gold medalist in Asiago, Italy. Lodwick was fourth in the World Cup points in '98, '00 and 2005.

FIRST WORLD CUP
Jan. 7, 1995 in Schonach, Germany (eighth in nordic combined)

OLYMPICS/WORLDS
2009 Worlds: Gold in mass start, Gold in Gundersen, 10th in Gundersen. 2006 Olympics: Eighth in the individual HS106/15K, Seventh in the team sprint, ninth in the HS134/7.5K. 2003 Worlds: 14th in Gundersen, 19th in sprint. 2002 Olympics: Seventh in the individual combined K90/15K; Fourth in the team event, fifth in the K120/7.5K sprint. 2001 Worlds: 17th in the Gundersen HS90/15K, eighth in the team sprint, 25th in the sprint HS116/7.5K. 1999 Worlds: 14th in the Gundersen HS90/15K, 10th in the team sprint, 13th in the sprint HS90/7.5K. 1997 Worlds: fifth in the team sprint. 1995 Worlds: Fourth in the team sprint.

I AM
A father of two... Family is really important...I love the outdoors... big into fishing and hunting when time allows... favorite quote: "Dream big because dreams come true."



Johnny Spillane
2010 WINTER OLYMPIC GAMES:
Silver Medal: Individual Normal Hill/10KM
Silver Medal: Team Event
Silver Medal: Individual Large Hill/10KM

Olympics - 1998, '02, '06, ‘10; Worlds - 1999, '01, '03, '05, '07, '09
2009: World Cup win, sixth podium (Oberhof, Germany)
2008: Opened with his fifth podium (Kuusamo, individual)
2005: Fourth podium of his career, Trondheim, NOR
2003: sprint world champion
2003: 10 World Cup top-10s in breakthrough winter
2003: U.S. large hill jumping champ
JWCs gold in '99, silver in '00

BIOGRAPHY
Johnny Spillane grew up two blocks from Steamboat's Howelsen Hill and fell in love with ski jumping. He was part of a Junior World Championships gold-medal team and became the first American nordic skier to win a gold medal at the Olympics or World Championships in 2003 with the world sprint title...and he's aiming for his fourth Olympics in 2010 in Vancouver.

UPDATE
Early in the 2009 season Spillane was on track for a great results year with a fifth place in Trondheim in December, but struggled later in the second half of the season to finish the way he had started. According to coaches, though, with summer training and renewed dedication to making the Vancouver squad, Spillane is on track for a successful 2010 season.

OLYMPIC SEASON
Spillane's Vancouver journey has been nothing less than impressive, tallying a World Cup win and two fourth place finishes in his campaign for a 2010 Winter Olympic Bid in Vancouver.

FIRST TRACKS
Growing up so close to the jumps at Howelsen Hill, Spillane thought jumping was the coolest thing and wanted to try it as soon as he could. He started skiing at 2, but he didn't get serious about jumping until about 11. And it still took him another two years before he got "real" jumping skis. "I just jumped on alpine skis for a long time, sliding off the jump with my alpine skis. I finally started using jumping skis when I was about 13." He skied the second leg - and took the lead for good - for the gold-medal foursome at the 1999 World Junior Championships in Austria and also was part of the silver-medal unit a year later at JWCs in Slovakia.

FIRST WORLD CUP
Dec. 2, 2000 in Kuopio, FIN (49th in sprint, but 22nd the next day in a mass start 10K)

OLYMPICS/WORLDS
2009 Worlds - 24th in mass start, 16th in gundersen, 19th in gundersen. 2007 Worlds - 20th in individual, DNF sprint. 2006 Olympics - 10th in sprint, 30th in individual. 2005 Worlds - DNC (Injured). 2003 Worlds - Sprint gold, 24th in individual. 2002 Olympics - 32nd in both individual and sprint. 2001 Worlds - 14th in sprint, 32nd in individual. 1999 Worlds - 32nd in individual, 37th in sprint. 1998 Olympics - DNC.

I AM
The oldest of three (younger brother and sister)...Brother Sam's hunting and fishing partner; my father (Jim) taught me how to fly-fish - and I collect fly rods...The best cook on the nordic combined team (I own the grill)...Colorado Avalanche fan...Stoked my parents and sister were on hand when I won my gold medal in 2003 in Italy...I've got two English bulldogs, Maynard (a good name for a bulldog) and Hayduke (for Edward Abbey's character)...Addicted to "The Wheel of Time" series of books, but I've also been reading a lot of nonfiction...Motto: The hard work is going to pay off!...

Billy Demong
2010 WINTER OLYMPIC GAMES:
Gold Medal: Individual Large Hill/10KM
Silver Medal: Team Event


Olympics - 1998, '02, '06, ‘10; Worlds - 1999, '01, '05, '07, '09
2010: Gold and Silver at 2010 Olympics
2009: Gold and bronze at World Champsionships
2009: U.S. record 10 World Cup podiums in single season
2008: Third in overall World Cup standings
2008: backcountry.com U.S. National Champion
Career: Eight World Cup wins and 11 other podiums
2007: Silver medal in combined individual event at Worlds
2007: Swept U.S. combined and both jumping titles
2001: '02 U.S. combined champ, '01 K90 jump champ

BIOGRAPHY
Billy Demong feels a fractured skull may have been good luck because it helped head-off potential burnout and re-stoked his love of competing. One other payoff: he became only the second U.S. nordic combined skier to earn an Olympic or World Championships medal and he became a World Cup winner again. In the 2009 season Demong took his medal count up a notch when he won gold and bronze at World Championships.

UPDATE
Demong was literally unstoppable throughout the 2009 season as he amassed an astounding 10 World Cup podium finishes for third in the overall standings, matching his '08 result. His string of success took flight in Austria, where he had his first win of the season in December. Following the win, Demong took two second-place finishes before heading to the Olympic test events in Whistler where he won and was second during a string of competitions at the 2010 venue. Demong edged in one last win in Germany before it was time to focus his energy on World Championships. A calculating athlete, Demong went into the competition on the world's stage where his first brush (he won silver in '07) with success earned him a bronze and put him on the podium with fellow American Todd Lodwick. But Demong wasn't finished and went on to win the gold in the final individual Gundersen of the series. Two wins and two podiums later - including a win in the highly coveted King's Cup race in Norway - and Demong says he is more ready than he's ever been to prepare for the 2010 season. "These results give me a lot of motivation to start training for next season with a focus on the Olympic Winter Games," Demong said.

OLYMPIC SEASON
Demong has put forth a stellar Vancouver Bound effort with a World Cup win and a fourth place finish. Demong's results continue to improve as the Olympic Games approach.

FIRST TRACKS
Demong's father - an environmental biologist who's in the woods almost daily - had him on cross country skis by 3, racing by 6. At 10, he started jumping in Larry Stone's Lake Placid program. He muscled his way into a preseason trip before the '98 Olympic season and earned his way onto the World Cup tour, competing in the Nagano Winter Games at 17 and his first World Championships the next year. Also in '99, he anchored the USA's gold-medal foursome in the team event at the Junior World Championships; the next season, with Demong skiing second, the team collected silver.

FIRST WORLD CUP
Dec. 11, 1997 at Steamboat Springs, CO (43rd in sprint)

OLYMPICS/WORLDS
2009 Worlds -Gold in the individual Gundersen, Bronze in the individual Gundersen, 2007 Worlds - Silver medal in the combined individual event, 13th in the sprint. 2006 Olympics - 15th in individual, 25th in sprint. 2005 Worlds - 12th in individual, 19th in sprint. 2002 Olympics - 14th in sprint, 19th in individual. 2001 Worlds - 18th in individual, 22nd in sprint. 1999 Worlds - 18th in sprint, 27th in individual. 1998 Olympics - 34th in individual.

I AM
A big fan of elk steak, ice cream and classic rock...I also enjoy back country skiing and would love a return trip to Alaska for some salmon fishing...Carpentry was tough but it's good to do something you know you won't be doing the rest of your life. Blending training, slinging a hammer and college classes helped Demong become more organized after his Summer '02 injury, that sidelined him for the '03 season. "I had post-it notes everywhere reminding me about everything"...In addition to my computer and some books, I bring peanut butter and hot sauce ("to spice up that bland Euro food”) when I'm on the road...New York State Cross Country champion, elected into Saranac Lake High School Hall of Fame.