Olympic ski jumping (Vancouver 2010)

[size=10pt]Mid-summer ski jumping at Lillehammer, Norway.[/size]
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NBC's coverage of the opening day of the Olympics included a short segment of ski jumping. I always enjoy watching this sport.

As I was watching, it seemed to me that the in-run for the jump was synthetic. I could hear a whistling sound as the skiers slid down the jump and the track didn't look natural. Does anybody know if they use synthetic jumps in the winter Olympics?

My family traveled to Scandinavia last summer and we were lucky to watch some young Norwegians training on the Olympic jump hill at Lillehammer. This was in late July. There was no snow for miles and the jump was entirely synthetic. The in-run appeared to be made of textured nylon slats that were continually lubricated by a mist system. The landing was on nylon bristles that were wet by sprinklers between jumps. (See thumbnails below.) It was impressive to watch.

At the Whistler jump, it looked like they were launching on a synthetic ramp and landing on snow. Anybody know more about this? My dad and uncle used to ski jump in the old days, but I haven't kept up with the sport since then. It's cool to see how the technology has developed.

[size=10pt]Jumping at Lillehammer, Norway, July 2009. Left: Preparing to jump. Right: Down the in-run.[/size]

[size=10pt]Jumping at Lillehammer, Norway, July 2009. Left: In flight. Right: Landing. [/size]