Johnny Spillane (born November 24, 1980) is an American athlete who competes in

Nordic combined Nordic combined is a winter sport in which athletes compete in cross-country skiing and ski jumping. The Nordic combined at the Winter Olympics has been held since the first ever Winter Olympics in 1924, while the FIS Nordic Combined World Cup ...

, a combination event consisting of

ski jumping Ski jumping is a winter sport in which competitors aim to achieve the farthest jump after sliding down on their skis from a specially designed curved ramp. Along with jump length, competitor's aerial style and other factors also affect the fin ...

and

cross-country skiing Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing where skiers rely on their own locomotion to move across snow-covered terrain, rather than using ski lifts or other forms of assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreatio ...

. Spillane is a world champion and three-time Olympic silver medalist. He announced his retirement from Nordic combined on April 18, 2013.

Early life

Spillane was born to Jim and Nancy Spillane on November 24, 1980. He was raised in Steamboat Springs,

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

, and graduated from the

Lowell Whiteman School Steamboat Mountain School, formerly The Lowell Whiteman School, is a small, college preparatory school in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, focused on experiential education, for students in grades K–12. The school is a coeducational boarding and ...

. For the first couple years, he used alpine skis on jumps, not getting his first pair of jumping skis until he was 13.

Athletic career

Spillane made the United States team for the

1998 Winter Olympics The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially known as the and commonly known as Nagano 1998 ( ja, 長野1998), was a winter multi-sport event held from 7 to 22 February 1998, mainly in Nagano, Japan, with some events taking place in th ...

in Nagano, Japan, but did not compete in any events. The next year at the 1999 World Championships he placed 32nd in the individual event and 37th in sprint. Two years later, at the 2001 World Championships, he placed 32nd again in the individual event but vaulted to 14th place in the sprint event. At his second Olympics, the 2002 Games in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...

, he finished 32nd in both sprint and individual events. Spillane won his first championship in

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, disintegrated during reentry into Atmosphere of Earth, Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an 2002– ...

, securing first place and the gold medal in the 7.5 km sprint event at the World Championships in

Val di Fiemme 300px, Location of the Fiemme Valley in Trentino. 300px, The Val di Fiemme, german: Fleimstal) is a valley in the Trentino Provinces of Italy">province, i.e. the southern half of the Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol Regions of Italy, region, in nor ...

. In so doing, he became the first American athlete to win a gold medal at the

FIS Nordic World Ski Championships The FIS Nordic World Ski Championships is a biennial nordic skiing event organized by the International Ski Federation (FIS). The World Championships was started in 1925 for men and opened for women's participation in 1954. World Championship ev ...

. However, an injury prevented him from defending his title at the 2005 Championships. At the 2006 Winter Olympics in

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. Th ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, Spillane finished a disappointing tenth in the 7.5 km sprint and 30th in the individual. World Championships in

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto ...

and

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

would continue to be disappointing for him as he placed no higher than 16th in any event. Spillane's coaches reported that although he struggled in the latter half of the 2009 season, they expected him to be ready and competitive for the

2010 Winter Olympics )'' , nations = 82 , athletes = 2,626 , events = 86 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = February 12, 2010 , closing = February 28, 2010 , opened_by = Governor General Michaëlle Jean , cauldron = Catriona Le May Doan Nancy GreeneWayne Gr ...

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. Th ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

2010 Winter Olympics

At the

, in

, Spillane competed in three events. In his first event, the 10 km individual normal hill event, Spillane won the silver medal – the first American medal in the sport of Nordic Combined, and only the third American medal to be earned in any Nordic sport. After the ski jumping portion of the event, Finnish competitor Janne Ryynänen was in the lead. Spillane,

Jason Lamy-Chappuis Jason Lamy-Chappuis (born September 9, 1986) is a Franco-American former ski jumper and cross-country skier who has represented France in Nordic combined ski events between 2002 and 2015, then in the 2017-18 season. Born in the United States, w ...

, and a number of other skiers raced hard to make up the difference with Ryyänen in the cross-country portion of the event. In the middle of the last lap, after

Norihito Kobayashi (born May 4, 1982) is a Japanese Nordic combined skier who has been competing since 2000. He won a gold medal in the 4 x 5 km team event at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2009 in Liberec and earned his best individual finish of ...

attempted a breakaway and was caught, Spillane took a strong lead. However, he had overexerted himself and slowed down after entering the stadium where the race was to finish. Lamy-Chappuis was able to catch up and pass him in the final stretch. The .4 second difference between their times is the closest finish in the history of Nordic Combined events at the Olympics. Despite the near win, Spillane told media afterwards that he was happy to have won any medal. In his second event, the 4×5 team event, Spillane helped earn America's second medal, another silver. In his third event, the 10 km individual large hill, Spillane won the silver medal, finishing behind fellow American

Bill Demong William Demong (born March 29, 1980 in Vermontville, New York) is an American former Nordic combined skier and Olympic gold medalist. Demong is a five-time Olympian, having competed in Nagano, Salt Lake City, Torino, Vancouver and Sochi. Career ...

Post skiing career

Starting with the

2014 Winter Olympics The 2014 Winter Olympics, officially called the XXII Olympic Winter Games (russian: XXII Олимпийские зимние игры, XXII Olimpiyskiye zimniye igry) and commonly known as Sochi 2014 (russian: Сочи 2014), was an international ...

, Spillane has called ski jumpimg events for

NBC Sports NBC Sports is an American programming division of the broadcast network NBC, owned and operated by NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal and subsidiary of Comcast. The division is responsible for sports broadcasts on the network, and it ...

and

Olympic Channel Olympic Channel is an over-the-top Internet television service operated by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). It was launched on August 21, 2016, alongside the closing of the 2016 Summer Olympics. The service aims to maintain year-roun ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Spillane, Johnny 1980 births American male Nordic combined skiers Living people Nordic combined skiers at the 2002 Winter Olympics Nordic combined skiers at the 2006 Winter Olympics Nordic combined skiers at the 2010 Winter Olympics Olympic Nordic combined skiers for the United States Olympic silver medalists for the United States in Nordic combined FIS Nordic World Ski Championships medalists in Nordic combined Medalists at the 2010 Winter Olympics American media personalities