Freestyle Skiing at the Winter Olympics

Freestyle Skiing at the Winter Olympics: Freestyle skiing is a popular skiing discipline, which developed during the late twentieth century in America. Freestyle skiing is also popularly referred to as "hot-dogging". The event combines alpine skiing and acrobatics. The event has much similarity with ballet. In this form of skiing, skiers have to perform aerial exercises at the time of skiing downhill. The organization, which is authorized to govern the sport at the international level, is the Federation Internationale de Ski or the FIS.

Freestyle Skiing in the Winter Games: Freestyle skiing appeared at the Winter Olympic schedule as a demonstration sport at the 1988 Calgary Games. The mogul freestyle skiing event got the status of a full medal sport during the 1992 Albertville Winter Olympics. Currently the events included in the freestyle skiing program are-

• Men's Aerials
• Ladies' Aerials
• Men's Moguls
• Ladies' Moguls
• Men's Ski Cross
• Ladies' Ski Cross

Categories of Freestyle Skiing: Freestyle skiing can be divided in various categories according to the format of competitions. The most common categories of freestyle skiing are-

• Aerials
• Moguls
• Dual Moguls
• Half Pipe
• Freestyle Ski Cross

Rules of Freestyle Skiing: The Federation Internationale de Ski or the FIS sets rules for freestyle skiing at the international level. Some of the rules followed during the international freestyle skiing competitions are-

• The competition area for each freestyle skiing event should be constructed in accordance with the FIS rule-book.
• Competition areas must be inspected before the competition by the official to ensure the safety of the participants.
• The starting and finishing areas should be properly marked on the course.
• A number of officials are appointed during the competition to super vise the skiers' performances.
• The participants of the freestyle skiing competition are divided in various age groups during the event.
• The competitors are given points for their performances during the competitions. The competitor with the highest score is declared the winner of the competition.
• The equipments used during the freestyle skiing competition have to meet the standard set by the FIS in its rule-book.

Medal winners in Freestyle Skiing: Some of the leading skiers in the field of freestyle skiing at the international level are Dale Begg-Smith, Mikko Ronkainen, Janne Lahtela Travis Mayer, Toby Dawson, Han Xiaopeng, Dmitri Dashchinsky, Vladimir Lebedev, Jennifer Heil, Sandra Laoura, Alisa Camplin, Evelyne Leu, Li Nina and Deidra Dionne.