Jan Boklöv sparked a revolution. 35 years ago, the then 22-year-old Swede won the ski jumping World Cup in Innsbruck in the V-style he invented. At that time, Boklöv was still ridiculed and ostracized. Everyone jumps like that today. A conversation.
Ask: Mr. Boklöv, how exactly did you discover the V-style?
Jan Boklöv (57): It happened in 1985 during summer training on a plastic ski jump in Falun. It is always very windy there, the wind mainly comes from the front. I jumped in the classic style with parallel skis. I was bad at that because I didn’t have the necessary trust. But when I jumped, the wind tore my skis apart. That’s how the V came about. Otherwise I always ended up at 70 meters, suddenly it became 90 meters. After that I just did the V.
Ask: Why weren’t you so good at classical style?
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Beech leaves: I fell so many times. I think my legs weren’t strong enough and that meant I couldn’t hold the skis together very well. If I had fallen on the first V jump, we might not have the style today. I was completely on my own back then because no one else was using it. Nobody could tell me what I was doing wrong or right. I had to try it myself. Only slowly did others like Stephan Zünd from Switzerland take it over. I was finally able to watch others and analyze them. Before, I only ever watched my videos. If you just watch yourself all the time, it’s not so easy to understand what you’re actually doing. I also fell in the V-style, but with every fall you learn something new. I was never afraid.
Ask: 35 years ago you had your greatest performances: you won World Cup competitions for the first time, including at the Four Hills Tournament in Innsbruck. What do you remember about it?
Beech leaves: In Oberstdorf they deducted points from me because of the flight attitude, and in Garmisch even a lot more. In Innsbruck the judges were more merciful in their assessment. That’s how I won. I was incredibly happy because the Four Hills Tournament is something very special. I was able to show that my style is correct. Nobody can take that away from me. It was like two wins in one day.
Jan Boklöv at a winter sports event in 2008. He rarely watches ski jumping these days
Quelle: picture alliance/Wagner/Ulrich Wagner
Ask: Why does V style work better?
Beech leaves: You simply use the buoyancy of the air better because you have more surface area. My style is safer because you sail more stable than a plane with wings. With the parallel style you are much more vulnerable, lose your balance more quickly and tip over to the right or left. You also land more gently because you are sailing down and not falling from a higher height to land. In the classic style you were much faster, which meant that much greater forces were acting on your legs, so more jumpers fell.
Ask: Looking back, are you happy that you changed the world of ski jumping?
Beech leaves: I’m proud that I went through with it even though people said: What you’re doing is bad. I stood by it and said: I am convinced that it is the right path and the future. This was difficult for many to hear because they thought: Who does he think he is? I didn’t jump to change the world, but simply to keep flying. I didn’t change the world, but the world changed because of my style. I didn’t have to talk at all, just jump. Then they saw the difference.
Ask: What other impact did your style have?
Beech leaves: I’m probably the most expensive athlete of all time. Because of my style, every jump in the run-out had to be rebuilt because everyone flew further at once. So I was very expensive! Over the years the skis have also been further developed and adapted to my V style. Back then I was still jumping with classic skis. Over time, everyone starts using my style.
Ask: In the high jump there is the Fosbury flop after the American Dick Fosbury. Would you have liked everyone to talk about Boklöv style today and not V style?
Beech leaves: I don’t need the style to have my name on it. People also know who I am. If it were the Boklöv style, I would probably have less peace of mind because people would constantly ask me about it. I don’t have to hear my name all the time either.
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Ask: The then president of the FIS jumping committee, Norwegian Torbjørn Yggeseth, called the V style “immoral”. How did you experience that?
Beech leaves: That’s just how the Norwegians are. They think they can do everything perfectly. When a Swedish boy comes along and wins with something new, the Norwegians obviously don’t like it. More positive feedback came from other countries. I kept flying. Of course the style doesn’t look that nice. When I jumped like that, they laughed because it was crazy to them. There were others who tried it differently. The American Steve Collins used the inverted V back in the early 1980s. For me, that was a good idea because you have more wing and can fly. They also told him: You can’t do that, you have to jump classically. He changed again and was no longer good. I knew I was taking a risk, but I just jumped a lot further.
Ask: At first you experienced a lot of rejection, especially from the judges, who took a lot out of you for your attitude. How was the interaction?
Beech leaves: They often came and apologized: We can’t give you more points because our boss forbids us. The judges often decided their points for me before I even jumped. They weren’t allowed to give me any more points anyway. So they were able to drink a Jägermeister during the competition while I was jumping because they were just watching idly anyway. They could have turned around and didn’t have to see me. If someone wanted to give me more points, the boss would have told them that they would no longer be involved in the next competition.
Ask: As a ski jumper you broke your right ankle in 1990 and were never as good as before. What aftereffects do you feel?
Beech leaves: After that I couldn’t jump well anymore. Today I learned to live with what my foot allows me to do. I can’t play anything that requires me to quickly turn left or right. Running and walking work quite well. I also wear a support in my shoe to support my ankle.
Ask: You suffer from epilepsy. How do you keep this under control?
Beech leaves: As an athlete, I have not yet had my epilepsy completely under control. I first had to learn how it works. I had problems before competitions and after. But usually not when I jumped. When the season started in November I was already having problems, and at the end of winter in April they got even worse. Because it was a strain on my head because I had to concentrate so much. Nowadays, when I don’t do anything athletic anymore, take it easy and take my medication, I hardly have any problems anymore. I haven’t completely gotten rid of the epilepsy, but the medicine has largely stopped it.
Ask: Do you still watch ski jumping these days?
Beech leaves: No, because in Sweden it’s not on normal television, only on pay TV on Eurosport, and I don’t have that channel. So I don’t really see it very often. When something amazing happens, people send me videos and say, look at that!
In the beginning, the judges regularly deducted points from Boklöv because his new style received poor marks for posture
Quelle: picture alliance/NTB/Scanpix Hedberg code 007
Ask: How do you like what you see from ski jumping today?
Beech leaves: I like that it’s much more exciting. You almost never have the same world champion or overall World Cup winner from year to year. It happens much more often that the winner from the previous year is no longer so strong and others come up instead. Because you have to jump so perfectly to be consistently successful. There used to be a lot more serial winners, or a few jumpers almost always won for years.
Ask: What sports do you like these days?
Beech leaves: Since I’m a little older now, I play curling. That is fun! It depends on you whether the stone reaches its destination. As with ski jumping, I do what I feel is right.
Ask: What do you do for a living?
Beech leaves: I worked in a kindergarten in Sweden for many years, from 1985/86 to around 2000. I liked that: Children tell you when you’re doing something well. They don’t lie to you. They do what they think is right. They’re fun to be around because they’re so imaginative and open to changing and trying new things.
Ask: Then why did you stop?
Beech leaves: My wife Jorun works at the European Union. So we lived in Luxembourg and Brussels for 16 years afterwards. There was a language barrier and it’s not that easy to find work there. In Luxembourg you have to know French, unfortunately I can’t. I also lack the training they require from you there. It was a little easier in Brussels, but there aren’t that many Swedish children there. In most families where one of the parents works for the EU, the other stays at home and takes care of the household. For the most part, the mother does this, but for us it was the other way around.
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