MOGUL: The Airborne Artistry of Aiko

To say that Aiko Uemura had a good season in 2007-08 would be a bit of an understatement, to say the least.

Uemura, a 28-year-old originally from Hyogo Prefecture, capped off this past FIS World Cup freestyle skiing season by winning the final four moguls events on the schedule as well as one dual moguls title.

Her run of dominance started at a World Cup meet in Fukushima on Feb. 16 and continued through March with victories in the Czech Republic, Sweden and Italy.

Despite her recent success, however, Uemura has no intention of resting on her laurels.

"Right now, I'm still not satisfied with my skiing," Uemura said in a recent interview with the IHT/ Asahi. "I want to get better even though my results have been good lately. There's always room to improve."

Uemura, a three-time Olympian, strapped on her first pair of skis at the age of three but it wasn't until her family moved up to Nagano that she really got into it. On a trip to Canada in her youth she found her inspiration.

"I went alone to Whistler Mountain (a major ski resort near Vancouver) at 14 to a World Cup moguls event and saw the top moguls skiers in action," Uemura recalled. "I became totally enthralled and decided I really wanted to do that myself. I just kept thinking how cool it would be to do that."

Doing "that" requires the ability to blast down a bumpy slope, all the while twisting, turning and flipping like a gymnast on speed. The sport requires superb athleticism and is extremely hard on the knees. Uemura has been skiing competitively now for over 10 years, and that's a lot of wear and tear on a small body. It's taken a toll, too.

"I couldn't ski much last season (2006-07) due to pain in my knee," noted Uemura. "Still, I'm pretty lucky because I've never had a serious injury that required surgery. I'm pretty small with a light body (156 cm, 48 kg) so that helps reduce stress."

And, speaking of stress, Uemura says that after all these years she stills gets very nervous before every race. To help calm her nerves in the starting gate, she turns to her iPod.

"I'm always listening to music," she said. "When I want to be genki I like loud pop music. When I'm nervous, I listen to classical music or jazz. I like stuff like hip-hop but before a competition that pumps me up too much, so I go with classical and jazz."

And if there's one meet that can bring out the nerves, it's got to be the Olympics. Uemura got her first taste of skiing in the Olympics on home soil in 1998, when she finished seventh in the moguls in Nagano as an 18-year-old, an event won by her teammate Tae Satoya. In 2002 in Salt Lake City she moved up a spot to sixth before going one better to finish fifth in Turin in 2006.

"In my first Olympics I'd only been skiing moguls for four years," said Uemura. "I just felt privileged to be with my Japan teammates and Tae Satoya and to ski with them ... it really inspired me to want to win myself."

Uemura said the highlight of her career so far has probably been her recent run of success on the World Cup circuit. However, she realizes that to truly be looked at as a champion of the sport requires victory on the Olympic stage.

"Winning in the Olympics is completely different (from the World Cup) because a victory in the Olympics is something you remember for the rest of your life," Uemura explained. "If I died today I'd be happy with what I've won, but the Olympics reaches a much wider audience. Even people who don't usually follow skiing watch and your results can bring joy to a lot more people."

With the Alpine skiing events at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver taking place at Whistler, Uemura will be returning to the very spot that her competitive seed was planted. By that time Uemura will be 30, begging the question of how much longer she plans on skiing competitively.

"If possible forever," the youthful-looking Uemura said with a laugh. "I want to ski moguls for at least two more years, and if I'm still competitive at that point perhaps another couple of years. My mom used to run a ski lodge so maybe I'd like to do something like that in the future."

For now, though, Uemura is still very much enjoying life as a sports celebrity in a nation that tends to smother its stars. Her smiling face is featured on billboards and in TV commercials, but she is not bothered at all by the attention that comes with success.

"I enjoy it," she said. "If there was always a crowd around I wouldn't like it, but it's no problem. I like doing interviews, stuff like that. In Japan, a lot of people recognize me, especially on ski hills, but I'm pretty fast so I'm usually able to get away from them." (IHT/Asahi: May 13,2008)