Alissa Johnson (born May 28, 1987) is an American ski jumper, who has been ranked in the top ten in the world. She was involved in the drive to add women's ski jumping to the

Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were h ...

, being featured in the film '' Ready to Fly''. Johnson attempted to qualify for the event when it was included in the programme at the 2014 Games but was not selected for the US team.

Career

Alissa Johnson is the daughter of Alan Johnson, who was a

ski jumper 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 fina ...

during the 1960s. Like her father, and brother Anders Johnson, Alissa became a ski jumper. Alissa completed her first ever ski jump when she was five, and also competed in swimming until the age of 14 to concentrate only on ski jumping. Johnson had begun attending the

at the 2002 Games in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

, where her father had worked for the organising committee. However, this was as a spectator, since there was no women's competition in the ski jumping. Prior to the 2010 Games in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

, there was a failed legal challenge through the Canadian courts to require the Olympic committee to allow women to compete in ski jumping. This fight was featured in the

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

film '' Ready to Fly''. At the time, Johnson was ranked as the tenth best female skier in the world. Around the same time, the funding for women's ski jumping was cut, with Johnson resorting to

crowd funding Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and alternative finance. In 2015, over was raised worldwide by cro ...

to continue competing. When her brother competed in

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, 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 ...

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

, women's ski jumping was not introduced until the

Sochi Sochi ( rus, Со́чи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg) is the largest resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi River, along the Black Sea in Southern Russia, with a population of 466,078 residents, up to 600,000 residents in ...

games in

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

. She found watching her brother competing at the 2006 and 2010 games "bittersweet", as at the time she was ranked higher in the world than he was. After suffering from back pain for two and a half years, Johnson underwent back surgery in 2012. The injury was not affecting her skiing, but the muscle spasms and pain was causing her difficulties travelling and sleeping. It was diagnosed as a sub-scapular bursitis, which caused her

scapula The scapula (plural scapulae or scapulas), also known as the shoulder blade, is the bone that connects the humerus (upper arm bone) with the clavicle (collar bone). Like their connected bones, the scapulae are paired, with each scapula on eithe ...

to rub against her rib cage. She was one of seven women who competed in the first US Olympic trials for women's ski jumping, while being ranked ninth in the world.

Jessica Jerome Jessica Anne Jerome (born February 8, 1987) is an American ski jumper who has been competing since 2000. She started ski jumping aged seven and in 2001 became a Junior Olympic champion. She holds the honor of being a three-time national champion ...

took the automatic qualifying spot on the team at the trials, and Johnson was not selected for the remaining spots. As of 2015, she was unsure whether she would attempt to qualify for the

2018 Winter Olympics , nations = 93 , athletes = 2,922 (1,680 men and 1,242 women) , events = 102 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = , closing = , opened_by = President Moon Jae-in , cauldron = Kim Yun-a , stadium = Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium , winte ...

Pyeongchang Pyeongchang (; in full, ''Pyeongchang-gun'' ; ) is a county in the province of Gangwon-do, South Korea, located in the Taebaek Mountains region. It is home to several Buddhist temples, including Woljeongsa. It is about east southeast of Seou ...

, South Korea.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Alissa Living people 1987 births American female ski jumpers 21st-century American women