February 24, 2010 - Vancouver Olympic Games. Through the fog lies a four metre high icy wall that will launch you as high as a four story building. The only thing in between you and Olympic glory is one final jump...

Lydia Lassila Jump is a story about mind, body and a fighting spirit. It is journey of self discovery, self belief and battles to overcome injury and setbacks. It's about commitment and the dedication required to reach the top.

From a young age Lydia set her eyes on Olympic glory, she had no idea with which sport but she knew more than anything else she wanted a Gold medal.

Initially gymnastics was her chosen sport, but when injury and opportunity curtailed that career her destiny opened up before her. Australia was embarking on a radical program of turning gymnasts into aerial skiers and Lydia was offered a chance for a new beginning, even though she had never skied before - a challenge she grasped with open arms and one that would change her life forever.

Lydia's rise to the top ranks of the sport was rapid only because she pushed herself to her extreme limits, often through pain and debilitating injuries. In essence she set out to jump like a man and was determined to push boundaries and break new ground in women's aerial skiing.

Aerial skiing is both an elegant and dangerous sport that leaves no room for error. It is a sport that tests an athletes' courage, resilience and the ability to focus - a sport that only the mentally tough can master.

JUMP is an intimate account from the athlete detailing the trials and tribulations required to reach the top of her sport. It is a fascinating account of a story littered with injury and success.

Lydia Lassila Jump is available through all good book retailers and by mail order via the P101 website - www.p101.com.au

Australia's greatest World Cup skier, Jacqui Cooper, has announced her retirement from aerial skiing after nearly two decades at the top of her sport.

Cooper, 37, is the most celebrated aerial skier ever, often overcoming major setbacks to set new benchmarks on her way to a record number of wins.

Her lists of credits are impressive, and her longevity in a sport, thought to favour the young, has been extraordinary.

Cooper was the first Australian female skier to win medals at three World Championships, adding a bronze in Inawashiro in 2009 to the bronze she had won two years earlier in Madonna di Campiglio and the gold ten years earlier in Meiringen.

The Mt Buller skier also won the World Cup aerials title five times, more than any other aerial skier, man or woman; only one other freestyler, American moguls champion Donna Weinbrecht, has achieved the extraordinary feat.

Cooper competed in 139 World Cup events during her career that spanned from 1991 to 2010. She finished on the podium on 40 occasions, including 24 victories, seven ahead of the next most prolific winner in the history of the sport, Canadian Marie-Claud Asselin and fellow Australian Kirstie Marshall.

Taking her sport to new heights, Cooper set a number of world records with the triple twisting triple somersaults that became her trademark.

Cooper attended five Olympic Games - Lillehammer in 1994, Nagano in 1998, Salt Lake City in 2002, Torino in 2006 and Vancouver in February this year.

Fortune never favoured her at the Olympics, her best result a fifth in her final appearance in Vancouver when she once again beat the odds to make the final after an injury-riddled preparation.

Eight years earlier, Cooper went to the 2002 Salt Lake Olympics as the hot favourite to take gold after winning the World Cup title for three consecutive years. But a training accident on the competition hill in the lead-up to her event put her out of the Games with a knee injury.

Her spirit, however, was ever resilient.

It was Cooper's ability to rebound from adversity leading up to this year's Vancouver Games that she rates as her career highlight.

"I had a major hip injury just seven months before Vancouver," Cooper said. "My hip was so bad that I had to learn to walk again, so to be able to compete in Vancouver was an achievement that I was very proud of," Cooper said.

"People came up to me after I finished in fifth place and said how sorry they felt for me, but I was not disappointed at all. Vancouver was my greatest achievement, although it was not my greatest result.

"While the World Championship titles were special to me, I have never measured my career by medals won. My goal has always been to take aerial skiing into a new world."

As the first woman to perform a triple twisting, triple summersault, Cooper will retire with her trailblazing mission accomplished.

Australian Olympic Committee President, John Coates, believes the five-time Olympic team member is a great role model for all Australian athletes.

Vancouver Olympics gold medallist Lydia Lassila has added yet another prestigious accolade to her growing list of achievements this year by winning the Governor's award for 2010 Victorian Sportsperson of the Year.

The 28-year-old AIS & VIS aerial skier was selected from a star-studded list including world road race champion Cadel Evans, Australia's most successful winter sports athlete Dale Begg-Smith, rower Kim Crow, Matilda's captain Melissa Barbieri and world snooker champion Neil Robertson.

The announcement was made at the Victorian Sports Awards function at the Crown Entertainment Complex on Monday November 15, only weeks after Lydia won the Don award for the inspiring Australian sporting performance of the year.

Not surprisingly, Lydia was also named Victoria's female athlete of the year while Evans was honoured as Victoria's male athlete of the year.

The awards night was one to remember for the Mt Buller based aerial skiing program. The Olympic aerial team, was named as Victoria's female team of the year.

Vicsport Chief Executive Officer Mr Mark McAllion described Lydia as a most deserving winner of the state's top sporting award.

"Lydia not only performed extremely well to be crowned Olympic champion in Vancouver but the way she has conducted herself since has been a fantastic advertisement for Victorian sport," Mr McAllion said.

Lydia adds to an impressive number of Aerial Skier's to take out the Victorian Female Athlete of the Year joining Kirstie Marshall (1990, 1991, 1992), Jacqui Cooper (2000) and Alisa Camplin (2004) who have all won the award.