Discipline: Freestyle Skiing
Olympic Participation: Nagano 1998
Achievements: 3rd Tignes Aerials World Cup, 3rd Blackcomb Aerials World Cup
Medal awarded in: 2021

Jonathan Sweet grew up in the Yarra Valley, not far from Wandin Park, a well-known equestrian training centre. Oddly enough, his path to skiing success took him through equestrian events first.
While at Wandin Park, a young Jonathan’s attention was caught by the Water Jump Park, which was being built by coach Tim Skate just opposite the equestrian training centre. At that stage Sweet had not received any formal training in acrobatics, but had learned to backflip in the lounge room and was regularly using the trampoline in his family’s backyard. The idea of a Water Jump so close to home was a dream come true and after an agonising wait he finally had a chance to experience flipping on skis for the first time. 
Up to that point, Sweet’s skiing experience had also been limited to the annual two-week family ski holiday to Mt Buller, something he looked forward to every year. Following the first summer of water jump training, Sweet decided to join Team Buller’s Techne team in the winter and started training as an aerial skier. 
His style of jumping was as unconventional as his start in the sport. With no gymnastics or diving background, Sweet was an aerial skier first, with no other acrobatics influence evident in his style.

While training at Wandin, Sweet got to witness Olympian Marcus Lovett as he practiced triples off the ramp. Lovett ended up being a big influence on Sweet, ‘selling him the sport’ for good.

Later on, a serendipitous encounter with Swiss skier Andy Messerli turned out to be crucial for Sweet’s development as a skier. Messerli was In Australia to rehabilitate his knee after an injury and train for the following World Cup season. After he moved in with Sweet to live near the Water Jump Park, the two trained together during the Australian summer. At the end of the season, Messerli asked Sweet - who had just finished high school - whether he wanted to go back to Switzerland with him and train with the Swiss head coach Michel Roth. That was a breakthrough moment for Jonathan Sweet.

During that European summer, under Roth’s tutelage and training with Messerli, Sweet learnt his first triples and had the opportunity to participate in pre-season training camps in Kaunertal, Austria where he put the jumps on snow for the first time. In 1993 the opportunity to be a forerunner at the FIS World Cup event in Tignes, France, started Sweet’s World Cup journey.

Two years later, in December 1995, Sweet would be standing on the third step of the podium in the same French resort - the first Australian male to medal in a Men’s aerials World Cup event. Sweet would eventually finish twelve times in the top-10 in his four years on the World Cup circuit, including another third place at Blackcomb, Canada, in 1998.

Once retired from competitive skiing due to injuries, Sweet didn’t stay idle. He obtained three university degrees and held senior roles in large listed companies. He also coached Olympic silver medallist Dave Morris for a short stint at the beginning of Morris’ career.

Now Sydney-based, he enjoys family life and time with his wife and two kids the most. He still tries to get to the snow for a ski every once in a while.