CISM 2010 in Switzerland Wrap Up

The Team has arrived back in the United States and its good to be home. The last few days were busy with the final rounds of Style and closing ceremony events. As mentioned in the previous post, the final round of Accuracy and 4way were rained out. It was declared that the 4 way event was finished, that meant the women’s team would received Gold, and the final round of accuracy would be finished on Saturady morning.

Saturday morning we woke to rain again. Unsure of what the judges would decide we headed out to the dropzone waiting for the weather to clear. Most of the morning was spent playing cards and talking to the new friends we have met. But SSG Ryan Ray was chosen to participate in the Nations jump(a jumper from each country). He geared up and headed out the plane in the rain, we were pretty sure he wasn’t going to jump. This year is the 100th anniversary of Aviation in Switzerland, so the Nations jumpers flew over the mountain to the airshow. About 30 minuts later we see lights of the 4 Piliatus Porters in the distance, low in the sky of course. They didn’t get to jump but the pilots performed a slow formation flyby for us on the ground. Finally, the rained stopped and the clouds lifted, well enough for a accuracy jump anyway. The girls geared up and waited for the call. It wasn’t raining when they boarded the plane, but the minute they exited it began to sprinkle. It wasn’t going to be a fun jump or their best round. SFC Angela Nichols landed and walked off the tuffet wiping her eyes and laughing saying “I couldn’t see, I needed wiper blades”.  The girls then waited patiently in the rain for the Belarus and China teams to land. The reason, we were tied with Belarus in Team overall and this was a jump off.  We would find out later in the day who would receive the gold.

After the jumps were complete it was then  back to the barracks to get ready for the closing ceremony. It never did stop raining after that final round. So the closing ceremony would be held in the base gym. The Team got changed into our Class B uniforms and headed over to the gym to finish out this years CISM. Each team lined up as we did in the opening ceremony. After a few speaches by the host country, it was time for the receiving of the medals.  First up was Women’s overall, SFC Tennyson wins Bronze, while Slovania wins Gold and Belarus won Silver. Next was Women’s  Accuracy, Switzerland receives Gold with 6cm, Poland gets Silver 7cm and China received Bronze with 7cm.  SFC Tennyson finnished 9th with 12cm, SFC Nichols 20th with 19cm, SSG Dickmeyer 23rd with 21cm, LTC Reichel 27th with 29cm and SSG Woosley 40th with 55cm.  It was a tough competition with close scores.

Next up was the men’s, and although our men’s team didn’t place, they did very good for 4 guys who don’t regulary train for accuracy.  China won gold with 3cm, Maracco won silver with 4cm and Germany won bronze with 5cm. It was individual accomplishments that meant a lot for the guys. SFC Heinsheimer and SSG Chris Acevedo both landed for dead centers, first for them in a international competition.

It was then time for 4 way competition medals.  The Women’s team was up first. USA brings home the Gold. While France received Silver and China the Bronze. It was the most talked about event on the dropzone. The competition between the two girls team was close. France had one teammate jumping with a broken ankle, the cast was covered in the French flag.  The final scores, USA 155 and France 153.  The men’s team, was next and although not medaling,  tied for 6th with Czech Republic. It was a great showing considering they have made only 35 jumps together as a Team. Most of the other countries make hundreds, if not, thousands of jumps together.  Belgium won gold and a new CISM world record jump of 45 points, Germany recieved silver and Switzerland bronze.

Final awards were given to Team overalls. We had initially thought we would receive Gold, but due to a jump off, the Women’s team received Silver. While Belarus gets Gold and China Bronze.  The men’s team tied for 29th with the Netherlands.

It was then quickly off to the banquet. It was a great evening spent with all the countries having dinner together, talking about the week and making arrangements to meet up somewhere in the future.

So, thats it from Switzerland. It was an amazing week. Great jumps, great competition and most importantly many great new friendships created. After all, that is what CISM is all about, “Friendship through Sports”.

You can get all the standings for each event, as well a photos, videos and much more at the CISM website.