posted Feb 11th, 2004 - It happens once in a while that FAI medals don't go to the three mighty Formation Skydiving powerhouses (United States, France, Russia) at the FAI world meets. NMP PCH HayaBusa, who have been dominating the 4-way event since 2014, are the best current example that a small country like Belgium can create these exceptions.

Denmark did not win 4-way or 8-way gold, however, the national 4-way teams of 1993 (Team DK) and 1995 (Touché) won two sets of FAI bronze medals. Denmark's newly formed national team after the FAI World Meet 2003 had plans to copy the success, as Pete Allum explained in an interview on 10 November 2003. The NSL News followed up when the team visited DeLand at the beginnning of the 2004 season:

"The NSL News had introduced the Danish 4-way project that aims for future medals of Danish teams at international top events, first time at the World Championship of Formation Skydiving in 2006. The story covered the history of 4-way competition in Denmark (January 21) and later explained details of the project documentation (February 3). Danish national and project coach Pete Allum had already commented the project in an NSL interview in December 2003.

The only missing pieces of the complete coverage were the team members. The NSL News met with the DaneZ for an interview during their last training camp at Skydive DeLand. The current lineup consists of Jess Romer (33, inside center, 2700 jumps), Jesper Rasmussen (25, outside center, 3300 jumps), Rene Andreasen (29, tail, 1700 jumps), Mikael Toft (33, point, 2000 jumps) and Bjarke Gjodesen (29, video, 2300 jumps)."

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NSL News interview with Danish national 4-way team on 11 February 2004

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NSL NEWS: Jess, the project plan goes until 2006. Am I talking to a future bronze or even gold medalist? JESS ROMER: We are going for the gold. The project goal is to medal. But it is difficult for us to go for anything less than the gold.

NSL NEWS: And that is in 2006? JESS ROMER: Yes. NSL NEWS: Are you guys happy and proud to be the project leaders? EVERYBODY: Yes, very much. JESS ROMER: This is a great team, and we are all happy to be a part of this team. NSL NEWS: Does the complete project finish in 2006? JESS ROMER: No, this team's plans go until 2006. But it is only the first stage of the project. And the association plans to continue the project after 2006. That is why we have the farm teams, as well. We may even decide to continue.

NSL NEWS: Let's look at the history of the Danish 4-way competition. What is the major difference between this team and the Danish bronze medal winners of 1995? MIKAEL TOFT: The major difference between the 1995 team and us is the fact that the 1995 team continued with two 1993 members, and we begin from scratch. JESPER RASMUSSEN: The members of the 1995 team had great personalities and helped other skydivers. We are still in touch with them. We are not done with them yet since we still have to beat their average. However, we still get and take advise from this team and their members. They are a great inspiration.

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FAI World Meet 1995			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	US	16	26	26	20	18	23	21	18	21	18	207	20.7
2	France	FR	16	25	26	18	17	21	23	17	21	21	205	20.5
3	Touche	DK	15	21	22	18	16	19	18	15	18	17	179	17.9
4	DeLand Norgies	NO	13	23	21	14	14	20	22	15	16	13	171	17.1
5	DeLand Equanimity	ZA	13	19	21	16	16	17	19	15	18	14	168	16.8
6	Russia	RU	14	17	22	13	14	19	20	13	17	16	165	16.5
7	Belgium	BE	13	19	21	12	16	18	14	13	15	15	156	15.6
8	Switzerland	CH	13	21	14	14	14	18	18	11	15	9	147	14.7
9	Daedalus	DE	14	17	13	14	15	18	18	13	15	-	137	15.2
10	Japan	JP	12	19	16	16	13	15	13	11	16	-	131	14.6
11	Sweden	SE	11	18	17	13	13	17	17	11	13	-	130	14.4
11	Monkey Circus	AT	12	15	19	15	11	16	17	12	13	-	130	14.4
13	Spain	ES	11	19	21	13	14	15	14	11	11	-	129	14.3
14	Australia	AU	10	15	16	13	13	12	15	11	16	-	121	13.4
15	Sebastian XL	UK	9	16	16	13	12	12	16	11	13	-	118	13.1
15	Canada	CA	11	13	17	13	12	13	15	11	13	-	118	13.1
17	Netherlands	NL	10	11	14	12	12	12	14	9	-	-	94	11.8
18	Finland	FI	11	13	12	13	7	14	14	8	-	-	92	11.5
19	Croatia	HR	8	15	12	11	11	11	12	8	-	-	88	11.0
20	Hungary	HU	11	8	15	11	9	12	10	9	-	-	85	10.6
21	Italy	IT	10	5	13	11	11	11	14	8	-	-	83	10.4
22	Luxemburg	LU	7	9	9	7	10	11	8	9	-	-	70	8.8
23	New Zealand	NZ	8	10	7	4	9	10	9	8	-	-	65	8.1
24	Yugoslavia	YU	6	3	7	4	5	4	9	6	-	-	44	5.5
25	Ireland	IE	7	6	9	6	0	5	5	5	-	-	43	5.4
26	Israel	IL	5	5	9	6	6	1	6	3	-	-	41	5.1
27	Latvia	LV	5	6	0	6	6	0	7	2	-	-	32	4.0
28	Indonesia	ID	5	3	4	4	2	3	6	2	-	-	29	3.6
29	Mexico	MX	1	8	1	4	-	-	-	-	-	-	14	3.5

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NSL NEWS: They still only won the bronze medal. You have to do something differently. What will it be? JESPER RASMUSSEN: We have some training methods and tools that they did not have by then. We have the tunnel and a national coach with Pete Allum who will always be available for us. MIKAEL TOFT: Team DK of 1993 once competed with the U.S. national team the same year, including DK's coach Jack Jefferies. After a few rounds, DK was ahead of the U.S. team. At this point they told themselves that this was not right at that time and got into their own way. We believe that we can go all the way and perform to our full potential at the right time.

NSL NEWS: How do you arrange your personal lives practically to be able to do the team? RENE ANDREASEN: I work 24 hours and seven days when I am at home to make up for the vacation time. MIKAEL TOFT: We are all committed to have the team as the first priority. JESS ROMER: We all have family. But the team will also be our family for the time of the commitment. MIKAEL TOFT: It is very challenging and actually a contradiction to maintain the team commitment and a job at the same time. However, this tough commitment and situation makes us special and even stronger. It also forms us for life in general. We try to live up to our own very high expectations all the time.

NSL NEWS: The original plan was timed until 2007. You got ahead of the schedule with great progression last year. The project plan was then shortened until 2006. Are you still ahead of the progression in February 2004? MIKAEL TOFT: We are where we should be according to the plan, even though the team had to replace one member after the world meet in 2003. Jesper was our alternate and became a full member in November.

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FAI World Meet 2004			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		B,P,C,18	9,15,16	K,11,19	E,F,7,5	A,J,21,12	6,4,10	17,Q,L,1	H,14,3	13,22,O	N,M,D,2	Total	Avg
1	DeLand Majik	US	29	23	17	30	18	19	27	21	19	24	227	22.7
2	Maubeuge	FR	28	22	18	30	17	19	23	20	18	24	219	21.9
3	Sky Panthers	RU	24	21	19	25	22	15	28	19	16	22	211	21.1
4	Sinapsi PD	IT	22	21	20	28	21	18	23	19	16	22	210	21.0
5	EADS	DE	20	18	17	24	17	16	19	17	16	19	183	18.3
6	HayaBusa	BE	21	17	17	21	11	16	20	17	17	21	178	17.8
7	Endeavour	CH	16	17	14	19	16	13	19	14	14	-	142	15.8
7	Arcteryx	NO	19	14	15	21	15	13	17	15	13	-	142	15.8
9	Danez	DK	17	16	13	21	11	15	19	15	14	-	141	15.7
10	Spain	ES	19	16	15	21	15	11	16	12	14	-	139	15.4
11	Voodoo	UK	15	14	14	19	15	13	14	12	-	-	116	14.5
12	VNE	UK	15	15	13	18	15	11	14	13	-	-	114	14.3
13	Australia	AU	11	15	13	18	15	13	14	13	-	-	112	14.0
14	Stratosfear	CA	15	14	12	17	13	12	16	12	-	-	111	13.9
15	R-Fource	NL	16	14	13	17	11	10	14	12	-	-	107	13.4
15	Matrix	AT	13	14	13	18	13	13	11	12	-	-	107	13.4
17	New Zealand	NZ	15	14	12	14	13	11	15	12	-	-	106	13.3
18	Croatia	HR	16	11	12	16	13	11	9	10	-	-	98	12.3
19	Slovenia	SI	14	11	10	12	10	9	9	10	-	-	85	10.6
20	Kazakhstan	KZ	5	5	0	6	4	6	5	4	-	-	35	4.4
21	Iceland	IS	2	1	1	3	1	2	4	1	-	-	15	1.9

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NSL NEWS: You mentioned earlier that you have new and better training methods compared to the 1993 and 1995 team. Can you explain some of them? JESPER RASMUSSEN: There is much more information available. The good coaches have many more years of experience. Techniques are different, use of communication and technical tools are far advanced. The tunnel helps to learn the techniques much quicker and more efficiently. A 1995 team member mentioned recently that he wondered how much better they would have been with the tunnel around.

NSL NEWS: Your training plan includes 2-on-2 training and 3-on-1 evaluation jumps with world-class competitors. Have you already done some of this training, and who are these world-class competitors? JESS ROMER: We did some already at this camp. We made these 2-on-2 jumps with Sebastian XL members.

NSL NEWS: How was it? JESPER RASMUSSEN: The 2-on-2 is very productive. The direct feedback from world-class skydivers is a great learning experience. When you come back and jump with your own team, there is a lot of excitement due to the new knowledge. It makes you believe that you can really get to the point that you dream of. You feel how much it pays off when you go back to your own team. Then you get the goose bumps when your own team jumps feel the same way.

NSL NEWS: Bjarke, you have been with the team since the very beginning. Are you aware of the current rule discussion about the videographer's position, and how do you think about it? BJARKE GJODESEN: I agree with the Norwegian position of giving teams the option of having a full team membership for the videographer or hire an outsider.

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FAI World Meet 2006			1	2	3	4	5	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		N,20,16	K,J,C,G,3	D,19,B,6	L,14,10	F,17,M,2	Total	Avg
1	DeLand Fire	US	20	27	25	17	28	117	23.4
2	Gap Nice Icarius Autrement	FR	17	25	23	21	25	111	22.2
3	Sinapsi PD	IT	19	26	22	19	24	110	22.0
4	Sky Panthers Barkli	RU	21	23	23	17	25	109	21.8
5	Arcteryx	NO	18	25	21	17	24	105	21.0
6	Spa HayaBusa	BE	19	25	18	17	23	102	20.4
7	EADS	DE	17	23	20	16	18	94	18.8
8	Danez	DK	15	22	15	17	21	90	18.0
9	Spain	ES	16	18	17	14	19	84	16.8
9	Evolution	CA	15	14	19	14	22	84	16.8
11	Team 42	SE	13	20	17	14	17	81	16.2
11	British Army	UK	14	21	16	12	18	81	16.2
13	Voodoo	UK	15	20	15	12	18	80	16.0
14	Punky Fish	NL	16	13	17	14	19	79	15.8
15	Airtite	AU	12	17	17	13	17	76	15.2
16	FILA	AT	13	16	16	12	17	74	14.8
17	Japan	JP	12	18	14	12	15	71	14.2
18	CTR Optimum	BR	13	14	14	12	17	70	14.0
19	Sky Service	CZ	12	16	13	11	14	66	13.2
20	Lithuania	LT	9	14	11	9	8	51	10.2
21	New Zealand	NZ	10	11	11	7	11	50	10.0
22	Kazakhstan	KZ	8	6	7	6	13	40	8.0
23	Estonia	EE	4	7	7	7	9	34	6.8
24	Ireland	IE	6	6	7	4	6	29	5.8
25	Cyprus	CY	3	7	7	5	4	26	5.2

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NSL NEWS: Are you planning to stay with the team until 2006? BJARKE GJODESEN: Yes. NSL NEWS: Who developed the whole plan? Was it only Flemming, or were the team and the coach involved, as well? JESPER RASMUSSEN: Niels-Christian L. Hansen, Chairman of the Danish Parachuting association, initiated the plan and asked Flemming to create the concept for it. Flemming then brought the project to the point where it is right now. Flemming collected a lot of additional feedback from Pete, the Norgies, Dan BC, Kai Wolf, Jack Jefferies and many others. He also had full support from the Danish skydiving association.

NSL NEWS: How are you working with the other project members, the farm teams? JESPER RASMUSSEN: We are using the 2-on-2 training system to pass down the knowledge and experiences to Vitesse, Air4s and others. Both teams work with our team members as coaches here and in Denmark. We also pass on our knowledge to all other skydivers in Denmark with tunnel camps and at competitions.

NSL NEWS: Thank you for this interview and good luck with the project, see you in March at the FSL Shamrock Showdown. JESPER RASMUSSEN: We feel very privileged to be a part of the project. We know that we could not do this without the support of all members of the Danish association. On behalf of all the project members, we would like to thank everybody who supports the project.