Every winter Olympic sport ranked by how frequently your uncle thinks ‘I could do that’

9. Ski jumping

Ski jumping often hears the phrase ‘I could do that’ mumbled during its events because on the surface, it doesn’t look terribly difficult. To an overconfident grown man, skiing down a hill and landing the furthest doesn’t seem all too hard. Which, when put like that, sounds reasonable. However, there’s a lot more that goes into the sport of ski jumping.

In the 2018 Olympic games, four events spanning six days will take place. Ski jumping has both a men’s and women’s normal and large hill jump with a total of 100 athletes qualifying to compete. The large hill has been a part of the games since 1924, with the normal hill more recently being added in 1964 and women’s competitions being added to the games in 2014. The normal hill is 85–109 m and the large hill is over 110+ m in hill size.

In its entirety, ski jumping is one of the most intriguing sports in the Olympic games. The form each athlete takes when free falling and making his or her jump is outstanding. Show me an uncle who could put down his bottle of Bud Light, get his butt up from his couch, strap on skis and successfully compete in Olympic ski jumping, I’ll show you pigs that can fly. Even though it takes years of practice to perfect a ski jumping Olympic jump (or trial, whatever you call it) and it’d be near impossible for any ordinary uncle to do, it looks simple. Which is why ‘I could do that’ gets said quite often during the event.