Billy Demong M eetsHisOlympic Hero

Billy Demong, right, poses with his Olympic hero, Bill Koch, in front of the Art Devlin Sr. statue at the Olympic Jumping Complex in Lake Placid. Photo provided

Billy Demong meets his Olympic hero

By Lauren Yates

Nordic combined Olympic medalist Billy Demong doesn’t get star struck very often, but he said that changed when fellow medalist Bill Koch called him in 2021. Demong, 41, said Koch, 66, is his “childhood hero,” and he got a chance to meet him when he was 9 years old — at the 1989 New England Bill Koch Youth Ski League festival at Craig Wood Golf Course in Lake Placid. But a lot has changed since 1989, mainly that this Adirondack native has competed in five Olympic Winter Games, 1998 to 2014, earning two medals in 2010 at Vancouver, Canada — a gold in the large hill/10km individual event and a silver in team event. Nordic combined athletes compete in cross-country ski races and ski jumping. Koch, a Vermont native, was the only American to earn an Olympic medal in Nordic skiing until 2010. He won a silver in the 30-kilometer freestyle race in 1976 at Innsbruck, Austria. He also competed in the 1980, 1984 and 1992 Winter Olympics. Demong met Koch in Lake Placid once again this past fall to discuss their experiences as Olympic medalists. Demong is now the executive director of USA Nordic, based in Park City, Utah, but he’s also a storyteller. On Dec. 1, he contributed to USA Nordic’s annual Story Project, a place where skiers go to share their stories — one for every day in December. Demong thinks Koch called him to meet so they could relate their shared experiences together, and Demong said he said he can’t wait until the next U.S. skier medals so he can sit down with that person for a chat. Demong said he thinks this year marked the beginning of a bond between him and Koch. The two have plans to go skiing together later this winter, and Koch may travel to Utah for a visit. Life has come full circle for Demong. While he lives in Salt Lake City, he’s a Tri-Lakes native — having grown up in Vermontville and trained in Saranac Lake and Lake Placid for many years. And he just bought a home in Lake Placid. His wife is a professor in Salt Lake City, and his kids go to school there, so he said the family isn’t likely to move to the Adirondacks full time. But, he said, his parents are still here and he visits regularly. Plus, he’ll be coming up a lot more in the future with USA Nordic. Demong said that USA Nordic is eyeing Lake Placid to see how much of their national operations they could move to the area. Now that the state has invested millions of dollars in upgrading the facilities at Mount Van Hoevenberg and the Olympic Jumping Complex, he said, Lake Placid is right back to having some of the best facilities in the world. Plus, Paul Smith’s College has upgraded its cross-country skiing facilities and is now USA Nordic’s official higher education partner. USA Nordic athletes competed at the ski jumping and Nordic combined U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Lake Placid on Christmas Eve and Christmas day.

Billy Demong shows off the gold medal he won in Nordic combined during the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, Canada. Photo - Lou Reuter