Going big, then going home

Going big, then going homeOn the topic of going out in style, there are stylish exits, and then there are exits involving five mid-air spins. Eric Bergoust’s involved the latter (and, by extension, the former).

A day before retiring from the sport, the 36-year-old American aerials graybeard didn’t exactly mail it in. On the last day of training (Friday, March 24) before the aerials comp at U.S. freestyle national championships in Killington, Vermont, Bergoust successfully qualified a trick he had never done before – a full-double full-double full. For those counting, that’s a quint, i.e. five twists, with three flips. (Other quints? Speedy Peterson’s ‘Hurricane’ is a full-triple full-full and Ales Valenta did a double-full double-full-full in 2002.)

Bergoust reportedly had the entire place watching, especially his teammates who could not get over the fact that a guy 48 hours from kicking back in a La-Z-Boy with a burger and a beer would choose to qualify a new trick (and a quint on top of that) in his last competition. But, according to Bergoust, pushing the envelope comes with the territory and a little blood is all in the line of duty.

Making good on that idea, Bergoust punctuated the drama in training when he spilled on his last jump and cut his face. With a mouth full of blood, he smiled cheerily and asked USSA communications manager Lisa Antonucci if she still wanted him for his TV interviews. Figuring he’d forego the interviews, Antonucci just laughed, but sure enough, Bergoust cleaned himself off and headed to the Grand Hotel for his sit-down, pointing to his face and saying, ‘This is what the sport is all about.’

Bergoust never quite nailed the jump in the competition, but his efforts were good enough to earn him a bronze behind Peterson and Ryan St. Onge. The hardware was an appropriate sendoff for the ’98 Olympic gold medalist, who walks away from the sport a champion, and no one can deny, one ballsy dude.