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Olympic mogul skier's dad a nervous wreck
By Tony Phifer
TonyPhifer@coloradoan.com
    Larry Bloom has been a mess for the better part of two months. Poor sleep habits, anxious moments and even forgetfulness. You name it, he's had all of the classic signs of the nervous parent.
    Two weeks ago, for example, he showed up to teach his regular 1 p.m. Human Sexuality course at Colorado State University and was nearly at the podium before he realized another teacher was already there.
    "She looked at me and said, 'This is my class. What are you doing?' " Bloom said, still more than a little embarrassed by the memory. "I looked at my watch and realized it was only noon.
    "It really has been very, very difficult."
    You'd never know that this nervous wreck is a professor of psychology - a guy who is supposed to both recognize and deal with such problems. But Bloom has a good excuse for his loss of control. His son, you see, is Jeremy Bloom, one of the world's top freestyle moguls skiers. Tuesday, Jeremy will compete in the mountains east of Salt Lake City for a piece of Olympic history.
    "I'm very excited right now, but I also know that sitting in those stands will be excruciatingly difficult," Larry said.
    Larry Bloom has played a huge role in his son's emergence as one of the world's best skiers. It was Larry who passed on his love for skiing moguls to his wife, Charlene, and their three children, and it was him who packed the family into the car every winter weekend for trips to the slopes.
    "They had no choice but to strap on the skis," said Bloom, a former Arizona State wrestler whose father, Jerry, is a ski instructor.
    It wasn't long before Bloom realized that all of his children - Molly, now 23; Jordan, now 21 and a student at CSU; and Jeremy, 19 - had talent. All of them competed in U.S. Ski Association meets from an early age, and all had success.
    Jeremy, though, was different.
    "Jordan was a better skier, but Jeremy had the capability to look at something visually and transfer that visualization into motor performance," Larry said. "He has always had a very high ability to do that."
    The other trait that set Jeremy apart didn't immediately present itself as a competitive asset.
    "I didn't think it was special at the time, but when I would ride with him to the ski areas, as opposed to his brother and sister, Jeremy wouldn't say anything for three hours," Larry said. "Being a psychologist I would try to investigate what was going on. I would ask him what he was thinking about and he would say, 'nothing.' I would ask him what he was doing and he would say, 'I'm looking out the window.'
    "He really was quite boring to ride with, but after more inquiries over a number of years I became pretty convinced that what he was telling me was that he was a senser and a feeler as opposed to a thinker. His mind was quiet, without a lot of noise - very much the opposite of me.
    "That characteristic, which is inborn, has served him well in competitive situations. When you stand at the top of a moguls run you have to have a certain amount of competitive juice, but you also need a certain amount of serenity. Jeremy has both."
    Jeremy Bloom has a great deal of talent, too. He has remarkable speed - he has been timed as fast as 4.2 seconds in the 40-yard dash - an uncanny ability to change directions and very good hands. Those skills helped earn him a full-ride football scholarship to the University of Colorado, which he put on hold for a year to pursue his Olympic dreams.
    Today, following a remarkable rise from relative unknown in his sport to the current World Cup points leader, Larry Bloom will get to watch his son - born in Fort Collins - stand at the top of the hill and put his Olympic hopes in the hands of his special skills.
    "If you had told me that after six World Cup events, Jeremy would be the World Cup leader, and that there would be no other American in the top 12, well, I would have been flabbergasted," Larry said. "This is the top level in the world, and his performance has been shocking. Even if he doesn't do well in the Olympics he has a very good chance to be the world champion - something that would absolutely shock me.
    "At the same time, I absolutely believe that he can get on that medals podium. All he has to do is trust himself and go for it."

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