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Joe Pack
- 2002 Olympics silver medalist in aerials
- Bronze medalist in aerials at 1999 and 2001 World Championships
- Two-time Olympian - 2002, 2006
- Won U.S. aerials championship in 1999 and 2001
- Runner-up to teammate Eric Bergoust in 2001 World Cup standings
- Was a ski jumper while growing up in New Hampshire, but he started aerials at age 12. After starting upright, he tried his first backflip a year later and in 1996 won the World Juniors aerial title
- In aerials, he gets up to 60 feet off the deck
- Featured in USOC's advertising campaign for Salt Lake Games, with a cardboard cutout likeness of himself attempting to make a good impression with his girlfriend's parents. The actual Joe is then shown training on dry land in preparation for the 2002 Game
- Growing up, taught himself flips on his family's trampoline and by taking gymnastics lessons
- On the coolest thing about aerials: "We come in at 40 mph, hit a 12-foot-high jump and launch 55 feet in the air. That's big air!"
- Goes few places without his camcorder. During the June training camp in Lake Placid, he repeatedly went flying with teammate and pilot Britt Swartley to take aerial footage of the Adirondacks and the former Olympic village
- An avid golfer, he sees comparisons between his two favorite sports: "Golf's so much like aerials. You have to pay attention to the details" in both
- Also likes to camp, play basketball and go dirtbiking. He spends much of his time in the summer dirtbiking with teammates Brian Currutt, Jerry Grossi and Britt Swartley
- In 1995, after seeing Pack's love for a wide array of sports, world aerial champion Trace Worthington nicknamed him 'Bo Pack,' after football/baseball star Bo Jackson
- Enjoys music of Godsmack, Limp Bizkit, Bob Marley and older rap music from artists like Snoop Dogg and 2 Pac
- Interested in a career in sports psychology
- On his greatest strength: "I get it done. No matter what it takes, I get it done."
After tearing his ACL and MCL prior to the 1998 season, Pack has regrouped and gotten stronger, especially over the last year. "Now I have the degree of difficulty, so I'll start to use more strategy. I don't need to learn anything new, just pay attention to the details and it'll carry over."
Related Links
Photo gallery: Olympic freestyle skier Joe Pack
Q&A: Joe Pack on how freestyle aerials are like being shot out of a cannon
Audio: Tips on how to enjoy the Olympics for his first-timer teammates
Audio: Speedy, Jumpy, and Bergy
Video: On getting shot out of a cannon
Video: 2002 Video: On missing holidays
On The Air Bergy Show, when asked to finish the sentence 'I don't have a clue how to …':
"… get rid of the Backstreet Boys."
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Height: 5'10
Born: 4/10/1978
Hometown: Eugene, Ore
Resides: Park City, Utah
Sport: Freestyle Skiing
Event: Freestyle Aerials
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