List of Olympic Medalists in Freestyle Skiing

List Of Olympic Medalists In Freestyle Skiing

Freestyle skiing is one of the six skiing disciplines contested at the Winter Olympic Games, and one of the youngest. In 1924, the first Winter Olympics featured Nordic skiing disciplines (cross-country skiing, ski jumping, and Nordic combined), while alpine skiing was first contested in 1936. Only at the 1992 Winter Olympics, in Albertville, France, were freestyle skiing events first held as official medal events. Before that, freestyle skiing was contested at the 1988 Winter Olympics as a demonstration sport, consisting of events for both men and women in three variants: moguls, aerials and ski ballet. In Albertville, moguls was the first-ever official freestyle skiing medal event; aerials and ski ballet were also held but still as demonstration events. The growing popularity of aerials convinced the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to add this freestyle discipline to the 1994 Winter Olympics official program. Moguls and aerials have thus been contested at every Winter Games since. Ski cross inclusion in the Winter Olympics program was approved at an IOC Executive Board meeting in November 2006, and the first events were held at the 2010 Winter Olympics.

At the 2002 Winter Olympics, two days after Steve Bradbury gave Australia its first-ever Winter Olympic gold medal, Alisa Camplin won the freestyle aerials event, becoming the first Australian woman to win gold at the Winter Games; four years later, she collected a second consecutive medal, a bronze. In 2010, the third Olympics hosted by Canada finally consecrated a Canadian athlete as Olympic champion: Alexandre Bilodeau took the gold medal in the men's moguls, overcoming defending champion Dale Begg-Smith of Australia. Kari Traa of Norway has won three medals (one gold, one silver, one bronze) in three successive Games, more than any other freestyle skier at the Winter Olympics. Begg-Smith and Janne Lahtela of Finland are the most successful male freestyle skiers, with one gold and one silver medal each. No skier has won more than one gold medal or has managed to defend their Olympic title. The youngest freestyle skier to win an Olympic medal is Russian Yelizaveta Kozhevnikova, who secured a silver in 1992 with 18 years old, while Tatjana Mittermayer of Germany is the oldest medalist, following her silver in the 1998 moguls event, aged 33.

As of the 2010 Winter Olympics, the United States are the most successful nation in the history of Olympic freestyle skiing, having collected a total of 14 medals: five gold, five silver, and four bronze. They are followed by Canada with nine medals (four gold, three silver, two bronze). Together with France and Norway, the United States are also the only nation to have won a medal at every Winter Olympics featuring freestyle skiing as an official Olympic sport discipline. Overall, 72 medals (24 of each color) have been awarded to 58 skiers representing 17 National Olympic Committees (NOC).