Jim Hunter

Who is Jim Hunter?

Jim Hunter, nicknamed "Jungle Jim", is a former Canadian alpine ski racer who represented Canada at two Winter Olympic Games in 1972 and 1976, and won a bronze medal in the 1972 World Championships. He was a member of the Canadian Men's Alpine Ski Team nicknamed the "Crazy Canucks", and is considered to be the original Crazy Canuck.

Hunter was born in Shaunavon, Saskatchewan, Canada, and started skiing at the age of eleven. Hunter had a reputation as an off-beat individual; he practiced his racing tuck position atop a rack he built and placed in a pick-up truck as his father drove at over 100 km/h, and tested his balance by placing himself in the wheel of a moving tractor and jumping out.

Hunter joined the Canadian Men's Alpine Ski Team in 1970, and earned himself the nickname "Jungle Jim" with his aggressive style on the slopes.

Hunter represented Canada at two Winter Olympics. At the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo, Japan, he placed twentieth in the downhill, eleventh in the giant slalom, and nineteenth in the slalom. Although he didn't win an Olympic medal, the Olympic competition was also that year's World Championship, and the combined results were good enough to earn him a bronze medal in the alpine combined event. This was the first World Championship medal in alpine skiing won by a Canadian male skier. At the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria, he placed tenth in the downhill, twenty-second in the giant slalom, and twenty-third in the slalom.