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Skier hopes to play in NFL after competing in Games

World Cup champion Jeremy Bloom of the US jumps during a freestyle moguls competition in Tignes, France, on Wednesday. Bloom hopes to be chosen by a pro football team in the next NFL draft. Bloom has been a wide receiver for the University of Colorado. PHOTO: AFP

Jeremy Bloom could be the next great two-sport star in the US.

The World Cup freestyle champion is a favorite to win a medal at February's Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. After the games, he will be hoping to get drafted by an NFL team.

"I want to make it this year in the NFL," Bloom said Wednesday after finishing fourth in a World Cup moguls race in the French Alps.

Before Bloom became a star in freestyle skiing, the 23-year-old played football at the University of Colorado.

The Olympics run from Feb. 10-26, but Bloom expects to leave Turin on Feb. 16. The NFL tryouts are then on Feb. 24, and the draft is scheduled for April 29.

"As soon as I get back from the Olympics I'll start training hard," said Bloom, who hopes to make it as a wide receiver.

"The scouts are saying really good things about me from tapes they've seen a couple of years ago," Bloom said. "It's exciting but I'm trying not to get too far ahead of myself."

Bloom gave up playing football so he could keep his ski sponsors after college authorities refused to let him accept money for ski endorsements while playing.

Bloom said he couldn't afford to ski competitively without the endorsements and ultimately decided to drop football -- missing his last two years.

However, he practiced with UCLA this summer and chats regularly with his NFL friends -- Ben Roethlisberger and Hines Ward of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Then there's John Elway -- the Super Bowl winning Denver Broncos quarterback.

"I know him really well," Bloom said. "We talk and he gives me advice. But it's personal, I can't say what it is."

Bloom is only 1.76m, but he doesn't think that will be a hindrance.

"My idol is Steve Smith of the Carolina Panthers," said Bloom, referring to the player who is the same size.

Others on the World Cup circuit have little doubt Bloom can make it in the NFL.

"He's first of all an athlete, and he's in incredible shape," World Cup champion Jennifer Heil of Canada said. "He's got incredible reflexes and he's used to pressure situations."

Bloom is confident as well, despite the pressure.

"You always feel pressure as an athlete, it's how you deal with it that counts," he said. "The last couple of months have been insane with all the demands I've had. It's good to come to Europe, go in my hotel room and switch my cellphone off."

Bloom finished ninth at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City. He wants gold in Turin.

"The Olympics are special to you guys [media]," he said. "To me it's the same moguls, the same bumps ... but it just means more to the rest of the world."

On the Net:
www.jeremybloom.com
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