posted Dec 1st, 2008 - "Craig Girard with his 7th gold medal has now become the most successful Formation Skydiving competitor in the history of the sport. He has five gold medals in 8-way and two in 4-way. The NSL News is still working on his profile..."

This paragraph was posted by the NSL News during the aftermath of the World Meet 2008 in Maubeuge, France, with the story on 18 August 2008. It still took more than three months until Craig Girard's career story has finally been completed. His NSL Profile has now been posted and offers a look at a unique life, filled much by Formation Skydiving competition.

It is no surprise that it took so long since Craig's skydiving career makes for one of the most comprehensive story books in the sport. This summary is only able to provide a glimpse into some parts of his whole life in the sport. There was a mountain of information to be collected and sorted, as Craig Girard's career reaches far back in time.

The last three years were the easiest part since the NSL News has followed his most recent team, Airspeed Odyssey, on its way from forming the lineup in 2006 to the 4-way gold medals in August this year.

In fact, the NSL News was live on site at each of Airspeed Odyssey's seven meets in 2007 and at six of the team's eight meets in 2008. The NSL News missed only the two Gauntlet indoor competitions and the Valentine's Meet 2008.

Airspeed Odyssey has won each of the 15 attended meets in these two years and ever since the current lineup (Craig Girard, Eliana Rodriguez, Mark Kirkby, Andy Delk) came together at the beginning of the 2007 season. The NSL News has posted a few interviews with the team and only with Craig Girard, many NSL-TV videos of the best team in the 4-way world have been available for the audience in these two years, and many stories have covered the Odyssey team career. There is also an Airspeed Odyssey DVD of the 2007 season available in the NSL Shop.

However, Craig Girard's skydiving career began in 1981. His current teammate in the Point slot, Eliana Rodriguez, was seven years old when Craig made his first jump. She still had her NSL Profile posted earlier than her piece partner... Craig was already a multiple 8-way world champion with the Golden Knights when Eliana made her first jump in 1995. It was the year when he left the US Army, moved back to Arizona and began to build up the Airspeed 8-way lineup.

This short comparison between the two Odyssey members in the front piece only demonstrates how much more information had to be collected and processed to understand where Craig Girard is coming from, where he is by now and where he is heading at. The NSL Profile still just touches the surface of his life. It is a very exciting story and will hopefully help the NSL News audience to know more about the most successful Formation Skydiving competitor in the history of the sport. Craig Girard's NSL Profile can be reviewed by clicking here.