posted Mar 14th, 2021 - March 14th is a meaningful day for Craig Girard every year. It was the day when he made his first skydive in 1981. The story of his early days in the sport is documented in his NSL Profile. Unfortunately, it ends after he won his 7th FAI World Championship gold medal in Maubeuge 2008.

It was only the story that ended and has not been updated. This year's anniversary on March 14th is a special one though, and it is about time to update the NSL Profile. It is Craig Girad's 40-year anniversary on the day, and 13 years have gone by since the NSL News posted his profile story in 2008.

27 years in the sport was a long time in 2008, and seven FAI gold medals speak their own language. However, Craig Girard was far from being done or slowing down at that time. He has added another 5,000 jumps to his logbook and now stands at 31,000 still counting. He is married to Eliana Rodriguez and still lives a very happy skydiving life in Arizona.

Even the highly competitive part of his career was not over after winning his 7th FAI gold medal in 2008, together with Eliana Rodriguez, who became the first and only 4-way competitor in history with three FAI gold medals in three different events in Maubeuge 2008.

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FAI World Meet 2010			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open Finalists		10,7,12	3,11,5	J,M,Q,P,L	19,1,13	N,18,20	K,17,8	2,15,H	4,D,6	O,E,9,G	22,B,16	Total	Avg
1	Aerodyne Aerokart	FR	21	22	56	20	22	24	22	24	40	26	277	27.7
2	Arizona Airspeed	US	22	21	53	23	20	24	23	25	40	23	274	27.4
3	Sky Panthers Barkli	RU	19	21	56	21	19	21	23	22	41	21	264	26.4
4	NMP PCH HayaBusa	BE	21	21	55	20	17	20	23	22	36	18	253	25.3
5	Evolution	CA	19	19	51	20	18	22	21	21	31	18	240	24.0
6	Sinapsi	IT	19	19	49	16	20	17	21	19	37	19	236	23.6

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France and Airspeed Odyssey at the FAI World Meet 2010 in Menzelinsk

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Airspeed Odyssey (Eliana Rodriguez, Craig Girard, Andy Delk, Mark Kirkby, Steve Nowak on camera) continued for two more years together and almost won the next set of FAI gold medals in Menzelinsk 2010.

It was only an incredible Round 10 of the French national 4-way team that kept Airspeed Odyssey from winning again.

It was the same French lineup (Mathieu and Guillaume Bernier, Julien Degen, Jeremie Rollett, Olivier Henaff on camera) that had finished one point behind Airspeed Odyssey in Maubeuge 2008. Round 10 in Menzelinsk 2010 will stick in Craig Girard's mind forever, and his reactions resembled his complete personality structure.

Airspeed Odyssey had landed from their own Round 10 and were very happy with the performance. Then the French team won the last round by three points with an outstanding performance. There was not the slightest disappointment in Craig Girard's reaction after seeing the French video. He was highly impressed and instantly congratulated the French team for this performance from another planet.

Craig Girard does not seem to know negative emotions, as everybody knows who has crossed his path. There is always a silver lining for him in each life event, even in the apparently darker moments.

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FAI Outdoor World Cup 2019			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		13,11,16		P,22,4		O,7,21		9,20,G		18,15,L		K,10,3		6,14,C		1,M,A,17		F,D,Q,8		2,5,E		Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	US	20	-1	22		28		29		21		21	-1	21	-2	29		31	-2	24	-2	246	24.6
2	SDC Rhythm XP	US	19	-1	22		25		21	-2	20	-1	20		23		25		29	-1	24	-2	228	22.8
3	Airspeed Odyssey	US	14	-2	17	-2	22	-2	21	-2	18	-1	16	-3	21		23		26	-3	17	-2	195	19.5
4	Defiance	US	17		17		21	-1	22		16	-2	15	-2	21		20	-2	26		16	-2	191	19.1
5	Aerodyne Cypres Lille-Bondues	FR	15	-1	16		19		21		16	-1	17		18		22		25		21		190	19.0
6	Echochamber	SE	17		14	-3	22		20	-3	17		16	-1	19		20		23	-1	21		189	18.9
7	Chimera	UK	14	-1	16	-1	21		19	-1	17		16	-1	18	-1	22		26	-1	18	-1	187	18.7
8	Pro Team	FI	15	-1	18		20		17	-1	17		15		18		21		26		18	-1	185	18.5
9	Kinetix	AU	14	-1	17		19		19		15	-1	17		18		19		23	-1	16		177	17.7
10	China	CN	12	-1	17		19		17	-1	14	-1	13	-1	16		20		24		15	-1	167	16.7
11	Eros	UK	12	-2	16		20		18		15	-1	13	-2	12	-4	17	-1	22		16	-1	161	16.1
12	eX3MO	IT	13		13	-2	17	-2	13	-4	12	-1	14		13		16	-1	22	-2	14		147	14.7
13	Pajama Pumas	UK	10	-2	12		17		14	-1	13		12		15		16		15	-2	13		137	13.7

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Airspeed Odyssey reunion at the FAI Outdoor World Cup 2019

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It is no surprise that he has become one of the most popular coaches and event organizers in the history of the sport. He has the ability to bring out the best in others, just as much as he has been pursuing his own high goals with the same spirit.

His appetite for his own FAI gold medals finally slowed down when Skydive Dubai recruited him and Eliana Rodriguez to develop Formation Skydiving competition in the very new area of the skydiving world on the Arabian Peninsula. The Dubai 4-way and 8-way teams became well known in the competition world and increased their performance level year by year with coaches Eliana Rodriguez and Craig Girard.

They lived in Dubai for six years, and Craig Girard was even inducted into USPA's Hall of Fame while he was working in Dubai. They moved back to Arizona in 2017 when the Formation Skydiving project in Dubai was discontinued at the highest point of the development.

As usual, Craig Girard was not disappointed when the Dubai project came to an end, even though he and Eliana Rodriguez had successfully put all their energy into the development of the teams and the sport. They simply made new plans how to continue with their passion.

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International 4-way Championships 2020		1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open	J,B,A,D,C		22,20,16		10,18,3		E,1,O,N		H,Q,P,L,9		8,G,F,12		15,M,11		13,14,21		6,K,17		2,7,4		Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	57	-1	20		19		32		49		23		22	-1	20	-1	28		23		293	29.3
2	SDC Rhythm XP	51	-1	20		18		28	-1	45		23		23		20		26		22	-1	276	27.6
3	Bullet	37	-2	13		14		21	-1	26	-1	14		16		14		17		14		186	18.6
4	XPG4	32	-2	13		13	-1	22		25	-4	17		15		14		16		16		183	18.3
5	Jerry and the Jets	25	-2	14		12		20		25		13	-2	14		15		17		15		170	17.0
6	SDC RhEvolution XP	22		8		8		15	-1	20		10	-2	14		12		15		13		137	13.7
7	Repeat Offenders	19		9		9		14		18		11		11		9		11		10	-1	121	12.1
8	Day 2	17	-4	8	-1	9		12	-2	17		11		10	-1	11		12		10		117	11.7

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Jerry and the Jets in Eloy 2020

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The next request for coaching help came from Russia, where the founder of the Tanay 8-way team, Andrey Barabash, had big plans for his team. This time, Craig Girard did not have to move to Russia. He has been visiting Russia on a regular basis, and the Tanay 8-way team was also training at other locations with him.

Result of his work with the Russian 8-way team was first the silver medal at the FAI Outdoor World Meet 2018 in Australia, followed by the 1st place at the USPA Nationals 2019, where Russia defeated XP8 and Golden Knights on their home turf at Skydive Paraclete XP. A month later, Craig Girard guided the Russian 8-way team to the FAI gold medals at the FAI Outdoor World Cup 2019, still on U.S. turf at Skydive Arizona.

Eliana Rodriguez and Craig Girard both were not done at all with their own training and competition. In fact, they both competed at the same events and were in Airspeed's 8-way lineup. Airspeed Odyssey also had a 4-way reunion at the world cup and finished in the bronze medal position behind Arizona Airspeed and SDC Rhythm XP. Then they had their latest engagement as player-coaches for Jerry and the Jets, together with original Arizona Airspeed member Dan BC. Jerry Elliott had put the team together.

March 14th is a special day to celebrate the 40 years with Craig Girard in the skydiving world. It would be no big surprise if his thousands of friends and fans will follow up in ten years with a 50-year anniversary...