December 11, 2009
Globe and Mail
Allan Maki

He stays at someone's home in Canmore, Alta., so he can train in the mountains. When he's in Calgary, he stays at a different house and the people who live there often cook for him or give him their frequent-flier miles so he can travel overseas.

In Europe last season, he couldn't afford a rental car so the Germans and Austrians took turns giving him rides. The Slovenians waxed his skis because they had technicians; he didn't. The Austrians are also trying to find him a good pair of skis to use when he flies off the Whistler Olympic jump for Canada in February.

"I went on Facebook and asked, ‘Has anyone got a pair of 260 jump skis?'." Jason Myslicki said. "I have to pay to get them shipped over ... I have favours coming in from everywhere, massive favours."

Meet the homeless Olympian, or the closest thing to one. He cross-country skis, he ski jumps; he's a nordic-combined athlete in a country that cares nary a twitter about the sport, which is why Myslicki has relied on well-wishers and favours to keep his quest alive. Such as the friend who let him stay in his basement while Myslicki was training in Whistler. Or the financial assistance he's received from the Canada Athletes Now Fund, from the Thunder Bay Airport Authority and from Canada Brokerline Insurance, the nordic team's national sponsor.

All totalled, it's hardly an avalanche of money. Nordic combined receives no financing from the federal government and not a penny from Own The Podium. Its operating budget of $150,000 a year looks like pocket lint compared to Cross-Country Canada's $4-million. To get by on the most meagre terms, the 31-year-old Myslicki has had to call in favours so he can compete for his country whether Canadians care or even notice.

"I pay $4,000 a year to be on the team and I do it because it's a choice," said Myslicki, who grew up loving the sport in Thunder Bay, where his mother, Margaret, lives. "People say, ‘What sacrifices you're making.' I don't see them as sacrifices. It's something I want to do."

Myslicki wanted so badly to compete at the 2010 Olympics he gave up a paying job as coach of an Alberta ski jumping and nordic-combined team last November, came out of retirement and went back to being a guy trying to take on the world with a full heart and an empty wallet. It wasn't long before the struggles reappeared. His national team coach (Ilkka Jylhankangas of Finland) quit and a new one was only recently hired (Scott Johnstone, who once competed in nordic combined but never at an Olympics.)

"[Jylhankangas] got frustrated here and he had a job offer so he went back [to Finland]. He's available to help whoever comes to Finland and trains there," said Myslicki, who has had to plot his own training and competitive schedule. "It's strange bringing in a new national team coach just before the Olympics. It kind of says something."

Canada's nordic combined Olympic history is awfully bleak. The Servolds, Clarence and Irvin, both competed in the 1956 and 1960 Winter Games. Irvin's son Jon skied and jumped in 1988. It was until the 2006 that Canada returned to the Olympic nordic-combined scene. Myslicki, coming off a pair of surgeries, finished 41st. Teammate Max Thompson was 44th. Myslicki was so disappointed with his showing he retired soon after and took up long-track speed skating.

Being part of a real team appealed to Myslicki. He liked having training partners, regular coaching, a therapist, and he did well enough to cover 500 metres in 37.2 seconds. But to maintain his athletic ambitions, Myslicki had to take a fulltime job working in corporate sales for Rogers. ("Calgary's an expensive city to live in and I have no family here," he explained.)

It was all too much.

And then he got a call to coach the Altius Nordic Ski Club. Myslicki admitted he was leery working with teenaged boys in a sports system that had demanded his best without providing much assistance. They didn't know what they were up against; Myslicki did. And yet their passion won him over. When the Olympic ski jumps opened in Whistler, it was the siren's call he could not ignore. So last November he strapped on the boards and took a leap of faith.

"He's pretty ambitious and determined ... kind of a dream chaser," Thompson said of Myslicki.

Thompson has weathered his share of woes, too. He said he used to hustle free rides to events; even lived with a club team in Germany while backed by a Polish sponsor. While being a dreamer seems to come with the sport, Thompson believes Myslicki has returned not only with a purpose but with enough skills to surprise.

"Jason, in my opinion, is going to do better in Whistler than anyone expects. Last year he had a personal best on the World Cup [a 23rd in France]," Thompson said. "Then he had a great summer of training in Finland. [Canada's nordic-combined program paid for the lodging; Myslicki had to pay for the flight.] His preparation, even though it's been difficult, he's created it himself."

Myslicki will outline the depths of his dilemma but doesn't belabour it. What he's blessed with is a unique support group that allows him to train and concentrate on Vancouver. The house in Canmore and the one in Calgary where he stays free belong to the parents of the boys he coached. Charl Pretorius's son Chanon now trains with Myslicki and has travelled overseas with him. It was Charl Pretorius who paid for his son to train in Finland and also paid for Myslicki's flights. "Very few people realize that unless these guys have sponsorships they're in dire straights. It's not a glamorous world," said Pretorius, a dental specialist by trade. "We are very proud of Jason. We think he's a super guy. My help is a drop in the bucket."

Myslicki understands his chances of winning a medal against the best in the world are as long as a ski jumper's landing. Still, he persists because it's his choice as well as a chance to repay all those who have enabled him to chase the dream. "We might be the only sport where nobody has any expectations for us," Myslicki said. "I really don't have any expectations. I'm doing this for me. I'm doing this for my friends and the people who have helped me. I'm just doing the best I can."