Q&A with Team Citi Member Billy Demong: Skiing His Way to Gold After Injuries

Join us as we profile nine Team Citi athletes on the Citi Blog as part of our Every Step of the Way program.

Billy Demong is a nordic combined skier and U.S. Olympic gold and silver medalist. Billy is passionate about being a role model to the next generation of athletes and has chosen to support Team for Tomorrow, a program that helps U.S. athletes spread the Olympic values of respect, excellence and friendship to their hometowns and training communities.

Q: Growing up near Lake Placid served as a terrific landscape for your outstanding Olympic career. Can you reflect on your younger years?

A: I grew up listening to the stories of my parents attending the medal ceremonies for Eric Heiden and taking part in the mass crowd of the Miracle on Ice celebration at the 1980 Olympic Winter Games in Lake Placid. They stayed with me through my childhood and inspired me to pursue my dreams of becoming an athlete.

Q: In 2002, it must have been a very scary moment when you dove into that hotel pool that left you unconscious with a severe head injury. How life-changing was that fractured skull?

A: I was in Germany at a training camp when I had a bad dive. Every athlete's worst nightmare is to be paralyzed, and I thought I had a broken neck. I got to the hospital and realized I suffered a massive skull fracture that left me without short term memory and good concentration for almost nine months after the fact.

I'd been on the ski team for four or five years at that point and skiing was my life, so to take that year off was a big change for me. I went back to school, trained toward my weaker sport of cross-country skiing and worked in construction, which was something I was always interested in. I grew as an endurance athlete and realized that there are opportunities outside of sports.

But after that year away from competitive skiing, I had a decision to make - did I want to keep moving forward in my new life as a student and a carpenter, or did I want to go back into competitive sport? It was an easy answer for me - I chose to be a world-class athlete. Because I knew there were other things outside of competition, I started to enjoy myself a lot more and didn't live and die by my results. I was able to focus on day-to-day training and leave the bad days behind me.

Q: Giving back to the sport is a high priority for you. As a supporter of Team for Tomorrow, what are the ways that you show that kind of dedication?

A: Team for Tomorrow is a great program, enabling athletes to reach out to the youth in the communities that they grew up or reside in by hosting events and days where kids can come mingle. The young people really get to see what it is to be a world-class athlete and have a role model to look up to. The kids who are inspired by the Olympic athletes of today will be the Olympic athletes of tomorrow. Learn more about how you can support Billy and Team for Tomorrow.