Sochi Winter Olympics profile #9 - aerial skiing medal hopeful Danielle Scott

IF Australia wants to win medals in our pet Winter Olympic sport of aerial skiing, we're going to have to do a Matthew Mitcham.

IF Australia wants to win medals in our pet Winter Olympic sport of aerial skiing, we're going to have to do a Matthew Mitcham.

No, nothing to do with Russia's anti-gay laws or anything like that. In short, Australia will have to upstage China in an event it calls its own.

Like Mitcham in Beijing, who overcame several better-credentialed Chinese rivals, Australia's aerial skiers go to Sochi facing an incredibly strong contingent of Chinese athletes.

In years gone by China's aerialists had top gymnastic ability but limited skiing skills. They often lost crucial points with their shaky landings. Not anymore. Now they're the full package.

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Sydney-born aerial skier Danielle Scott reckons China has dozens of Olympic-standard aerial skiers. She says the competition to make China's four-strong Olympic quota is as tough as the Olympic competition itself.

That's why Scott's recent second place in a World Cup competition in Lake Placid, New York, was so impressive from a Sochi perspective.

News_Rich_Media: More medals than ever before will be on offer at the upcoming Sochi Olympics with 98 events in total.

Scott's final jump, a double twisting double somersault, came within a whisker of beating Chinese skier Nina Li. Behind Scott were two other Chinese skiers.

Scott knows that beating the Chinese is a matter of tactics as much as skill.

You can't repeat a jump throughout the competition, so it's a matter of unleashing your jump with the highest degree-of-difficulty when you really need it.

At Lake Placid, Scott went early with her toughest jump, a triple twisting double somersault. She then went into the four-woman final known as the 'super final'.

"I was up against three Chinese, and they all had harder tricks in their pocket. So I did a jump with a lower degree of difficulty, and because I did it so well, I managed to knock two of them out of the results.

"It was a victory for strategy."

The Danielle Scott story is a familiar one in the context of Australian aerial skiing. She was a champion young gymnast who was recruited to the sport of aerial skiing by former aerials World Champ Jacqui Cooper.

"I was 16 when I was recruited, then I learned to ski for two years," Scott recalls.

Now 23, Scott started jumping at the age of 18 and competing in the World Cup aged 21. Her breakthrough moment came last year, with a bronze medal at the 2013 World Championships in Norway.

That performance, and her strong silver at Lake Placid has her feeling good about her chances in Sochi.

"I'm just sitting in a really great position right now," she says. "I've proved I have every chance to get to the podium."

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