Alpine Skiing

If comedy was an Olympic event, I'm pretty sure the Norwegians would be a sure bet for a gold medal - possibly even a podium sweep.

Having spent a fair bit of time with our Scandinavian ski cousins over the years on the World Cup circuit and most recently in Portillo, Chile at their training camp with the Canadian Alpine Ski Team - I've come to the conclusion that no one can top these guys in the laugh department.

The Attacking Vikings (as they call themselves) were in excellent form during our recent stay in the South American Andes. When they weren't perfecting tandem back flips into the hotel swimming pool, or cracking hilarious jokes at dinner, they were diving into snow banks in their bathing suits like alpine jesters. But the comedy clincher for me happened earlier this week when I clicked onto the web and saw their newest viral video - a dance tribute to Michael Jackson shot at the top of a 13,000 foot mountain peak in the Chilean Andes.

In the video, 2009 overall World Cup Champion, Aksel Lund Svindal is flanked by team mates Lars Elton Myhre and Kjetil Jansrud. I'd like to say the video is funny because none of them can bust a move properly - but this is not the case as they are all amazing Michael Jackson impersonators - and I'm not kidding.

"Inspired by all the Michael Jackson tributes we had seen online, we came up with the idea of making one ourselves," Lund Svindal wrote on his website (www.aksellundsvindal.com). "This is filmed in Portillo Chile when we were there skiing in September. We joked about doing it for a few days and one day after finishing a session of downhill we found a peak where we were sure no one would see us and went for it. Haha!!!! Enjoy the result."

true

Norwegian alpine skier Lars Elton Myhre

Michael Mastarciyan/CTVOlympics.ca

Lund Svindal's tone may be light-hearted - but it is nevertheless genuine and sincere. And the motivation behind the video is neither ghoulish nor mocking. It's a fun-loving tribute to a pop singer who once brought American culture to the Scandinavian world Lund Svindal and his dance cohorts grew up in.

"Aksel was responsible for the choreography, I was just doing my best to keep up," said Myhre, one of the team's biggest comedians, "And it wasn't easy to dance in soft snow as you can see in the video; I thought that might give us an excuse for our less than perfect technical ability."

The comedy - and this is big comedy - is purely in the situation and the setting. Three of the most talented alpine skiers in the world - dressed head to toe in ski garb - boots, speed-suit, helmet, and goggles - killin' it on a snowy dance floor to Michael Jackson's Beat It - complete with synchronized snapping fingers, gyrating hip swings and flashy footwork the late King of Pop would surely approve of.

"The idea for the video was actually born when we were doing some dry-land training with the US women's team," Myhre said.

"We were dancing for an hour in the gym. We thought it was a lot of fun and figured that doing it in full race gear on top of the mountain would be awesome."

The video, which has garnered massive media coverage in Norway has shone a different sort of light on a group of athletes know more for their fancy footwork on skis than on the dance floor.

"We had a lot of fun by doing it, and really hope it shows in the video. In Norway this thing has blow up. It's all over the media. Everybody seems to enjoy it, and we hope we have not offended anyone who actually can dance. Watching it is a little embarrassing, but it also puts me in a good mood," Myhre said.