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INTERVIEW WITH JON OLSSON
DOUCHEBAG(S) by Gaber Keržišnik photography Bor Dobrin, Red Bull, Head
We were persistent and determined to do the
videos that he records, edits and publishes daily on
interview in our usual manner for this magazine.
YouTube. This is how he keeps his fans and followers
Live. In Monte Carlo, where Jon Olsson lives.
up to date with his life. Even when he’s not skiing or
Lives? Well, sometimes stays the night might be
chasing snowstorms in supercars.
more accurate. We were treated to some more
It required a lot of time to set up the interview. Quite a few emails and a lot of coordination was needed. Olsson’s first reply went along the lines of: “Let’s do the interview over the phone or by email. It would be fastest that way. You see, I live life quite differently from others. I only sleep a few hours every night. My biggest regret is that a day only has 24 hours. Though it is true that even if it had 48, I’d manage to fill it up. I work, ski or travel to a new skiing destination. I really don’t know where life or travels will take me tomorrow. I just got back from Los Angeles. We bought our tickets just a few hours before departure. We usually try to catch the most recent snowfall or monitor snowstorms and then decide at the last moment to go where we think the snowfall will be the heaviest. We look for places where skiing conditions are at their wildest.”
juicy travel stories before managing to start with
Jon Olsson is a ski legend, a skiing innovator, author
the interview proper. “We were recently deciding
of numerous freestyle flips and spins, adrenaline
between a snowstorm in Japan and heavy snow
junky, extreme skier, nine-time medallist at the X
in Canada. We didn’t know where to fly to, even
Games, aficionado and collector of fast cars, blogger,
a few hours before departure. But then a friend
vlogger, internet star, playboy and teen idol. And all
from Japan informed me that snow forecasts
that at 34! Olsson is very well read and is an excellent
were exaggerated and that snowfall would not be
interlocutor and not in any way a “Douchebag”, as
as heavy as promised. So we changed our mind
we jokingly labelled him in the title of this interview.
at the last minute and opted for Canada instead.
The term was rather taken after the increasingly
On my return, I also stopped in Los Angeles to
popular brand of travelling bags, manufactured in
say hello to a few friends, but now I’m here and
Scandinavia. Olsson is a co-owner in the company
ready for the interview.”
that he set up together with friends and the brand has already reached worldwide renown. Jon Olsson also
With the compulsory cap brandishing a famous
chose the company’s name: “Douchebags”.
sponsor’s logo that gives him “wings”, and with camera in hand, the blonde Swede arrived at
We ordered coffee and sat down on a sunny terrace
the agreed upon time. He recorded everything
at a Monaco seaside café, not too far from the tunnel
with his beat-up camera, whose broken-off
and directly below the building where he stays. “It
microphone was attached with rubber bands and
was difficult to get you in front of a microphone,” I
sticky tape. Before we started talking for real,
said, while he apologised and explained: “This must
he also placed a GoPro camera on the table.
be my first face-to-face interview in at least a year.
He wanted to film our meeting from at least two
And it mainly happened because of your persis-
vantage points, so that he could later publish
tence.” Straightforward. There is no time to waste.
the footage on his video blog amongst other
Interview