Freeskier Grete Eliassen Works to Promote Female Sports

Grete Eliassen has been skiing since she was just 2 years old, and over the last few years she is trying to make sure other young girls have the same opportunity to catch on to her sport as she did.

Recently, Eliassen, 23, appeared on Capital Hill in Washington, D.C. on Feb. 2 and 3, with the Women's Sports Foundation for the 2010 National Girls & Women in Sports Day.

It was just the latest step Eliassen has taken not only to promote female sports, but to also promote her preferred skiing styles, slopestyle and superpipe. This year, she is also filming a movie that will put her and her sport in the spotlight.

Eliassen has come a long way from where she got her start, when she took up the family sport of skiing in Hyland Hills, Minn.

She began ski racing when she was 10, and joined the Norwegian ski team when her family relocated to Norway when she was 13. But after a few years on the team, she decided freeskiing was more her style, and got into twin tip skiing.

"I got bored doing the same thing everyday and having little to no time to jump or ski powder," Eliassen said.

At 17, Eliassen competed in and won her first international freeski contest, the Rip Curl Freeski Event. She also moved back to the United States to attend the University of Utah.

"I knew I needed to find a school that was close to an airport and ski resorts," Eliassen said. "Utah was the perfect fit."

Eliassen continued to compete in events around the world, and in the process has also become a five-time Winter X Games medalist. In 2005 and 2006 she was a gold medalist in the superpipe, in 2007 she was a silver medalist in the superpipe, in 2009 she was a silver medalist in slopestyle and in 2010 she won bronze in the superpipe.

In March, Eliassen will compete in the first ever European X Games, which is currently scheduled to be held in France and later this year she will compete in the Red Bull Cold Rush event in Canada.

I recently interviewed Eliassen after her appearance on Capital Hill and before the start of the 2010 Winter Olympics. Unfortunately, the Winter Olympics currently do not include superpipe or slopestyle events.

You recently went to Washington, D.C. and appeared on Capital Hill for National Girls & Women in Sports Day. Why did you do this and why was it important to you to do it?

I have been working with the Women's Sports Foundation for a number of years now. I really think it's important to get girls active and I want to motivate girls to get outside and play. But, it's also important to make sure they have the opportunity to go out and play. So this year, while I was out in D.C. for NGWSD, we were lobbying for the bill High School Accountability Act, which makes sure public schools on the elementary/high school level are making financial statements publicly available so tax payers can see that schools are treating girls and boys sports programs equally in their own communities.

Did anyone in particular help you get to where you are today?

Watching my friend Sarah Burke pave the way for twin-tip female skiers. Also, my friends from my home mountain in Norway. Lars Veen, Even Sigstad and the boys were a huge influence on me skiing in the park. And my brother Knut of course.

Which do you prefer, slopestyle or superpipe?

I really like them both. But I prefer slopestyle because the halfpipe is always so scary to me, I don't know why. I would rather try a trick on a jump before I did it in a halfpipe.

What do you remember the most from your first X Games?

It was the winter of 2005, my senior year of high school. I really did not expect much before the contest because my mountain in Norway where I went to school, Oppdal, had just built a pipe the day before I was going to leave to the U.S. for the contest. So I just wanted to ski my best, but I really didn't have much expectations. But during the practice, days before the contest, I was having so much fun in Aspen and learning so many new tricks it was crazy. Then the contest was a jam format, so I basically just kept having fun in the pipe run after run. And then they told me to stop skiing and I looked up at the scoreboard and I was in first place. It was the wildest moment of my life, because it was so unbelievable. I had done it! And just by having fun.

How did this year's X Games compare to previous ones?

This was my seventh X Games. The first one I went to was just a demo and I had done very well in the past, being the first woman freeskier to win gold at X Games. So, of course I wanted to do well, but getting on the podium again this year was so amazing. And I just did my same tactics, just having fun and I know I will ski great.

How much do you wish you had the chance to compete in the Olympics this year?

After I quit ski racing I never thought I would have the chance to compete in the Olympics, so I have been over the Olympics since I was 16 I think. Now I just want to have a good time with my friends, progress the sport and ski for me. I like participating in something that everyone can do.

What do you think the chances that either slopestyle or superpipe will be added to the 2014 Olympics?

I think adding superpipe in 2014 has a very good chance. I went to Sochi, Russia a few years ago to film for the Oakley movie "Uniquely." The mountains there are amazing.

What are your goals for the future?

I am working on my first ever women's ski movie called "Say My Name." It has been a dream of mine to make a women's ski movie, because I grew up always watching women's segments and I never thought there was enough content in the media for women's skiers. So this year, I will be snowmobiling around the mountains and skiing down them with my closest friends. It will from out in fall of 2010.

What are some of the other movies you have appeared in?

Strike (skifilm.com), X (poorboyz), Ski Porn (poorboyz), Children of Winter (Warren Miller), Oh Yeah (Guddoneproductions).

What made you want to move back to the United States and attend the University of Utah? What is your major?

I wanted to go to school, that was the first decision. And I knew I needed to find a school that was close to an airport and ski resorts. Utah was the perfect fit. My major is business management at the David Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah.

What are you hoping to do when you graduate?

The reason I am in school is so the day I graduate I will have options. For now I just want to continue pushing women's sports and skiing. Politics have always interested me.

If you weren't involved in skiing, do you think you'd still be an athlete? If so, what sport would you play?

I would probably participate in a sport that takes place in the summer. I would be a surfer or a golfer.

Who are your favorite athletes, or athletes you look up to?

Billie Jean King, Jessica Mendoza, Sarah Burke, Annika Sorenstam, there are so many!

What advice would you give someone who is interested in following in your footsteps?

Just stick with it, and if you're not smiling, you're probably not having fun.

To find out more about Grete Eliassen, visitwww.greteeliassen.com or www.facebook.com/greteeliassen, or follow her on twitter @gretteeliassen.

Eliassen is sponsored by Oakley, Red Bull, Volkl Ski Co., Tecnica, Dakine, Swix, Kicker Audio and Snowbird/Alta/Brighton/Park City Mountain Resorts.