Jacqui Cooper

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Jacqui Cooper (January 6, 1973 in Melbourne, Australia) is an Australian freestyle skier.

Cooper has been participating in aerial skiing since she was 16, and has been in the Australian team for 13 years. She has had many injuries, including a shattered knee in 2002.

She competed at the 1994 Winter Olympics and came 16th. Cooper participated in the 1998 Winter Olympics. A crash in the qualifying round left her unable to compete.

At the Salt Lake Winter Games in 2002, she was the favourite to win gold, being the three time world cup champion. Unfortunately, a training accident in the week before the games left her knee shattered. Teammate Alisa Camplin went on to win gold for Australia.

Cooper made her comeback at the 2004 Mount Buller World Aerials, two and a half years after her Salt Lake accident. She won the silver behind fellow Australian, Lydia Ierodiaconou. After having a long time off competition, she performed somersaults, rather than her trademark triples.

At the 2006 Winter Olympics, Cooper entered the final as the favourite to win, having recorded a world record 213.56 in the qualification, however crash landings on both her jumps ended her chances. Teammate Alisa Camplin, gold medalist in Salt Lake City, went on to win Bronze. Jacqui Cooper, having been the favourite at several Olympics, never won an Olympic medal.

Jacqui became the most successful women's aerial skier of all time after winning her forth World Cup title in Apex, Canada.^[1]

[edit] References

1. ^ Jumping Jac nails best win of all. FOX Sports, February 26, 2007