Winter Olympics ski jumping a death-defying spectacle

Perched perilously on a bench, 100 metres up a 35-degree slope, wearing just a pair of oversize skis and a suit, the skier waits for a sign from their coach.

That coach is waiting for the wind conditions to be just right for optimum flying.

The skier is readying themselves for take-off.

With a downward swipe of their coach's hand, the skier lets go of the bench and lets gravity take them.

The Winter Olympics is full of adrenaline-filled sports but there are few that are more spectacular or death defying than the large hill ski jump event.

In Beijing, this exhilarating spectacle is paired with a venue that can only be described as awe-inspiring.

A huge, flying-saucer-shaped observation deck — from which the Great Wall of China is visible from across the valley – appears to hover above the two jumps, cased in a sinuous metallic shell that flows down the side of the mountain.

Designed by Zhang Li — the same man who designed the Big Air at Shougang — the Snow Ruyi, as it is known, is simply spectacular and a fitting venue to showcase the best athletes in the world.

Dwarfed by the scale of the structure around them – and the hill they are sitting precariously at the summit of — the men and women surrender themselves to gravity and fly 130 metres down the hill, one after another like a procession of wingless birds.

Seeing it for the first time, you can't help but have your breath taken away.

It might be more accurate to say the athletes glide than fly, but they certainly soar down the mountain with a gracefulness that belies the danger that any wrong move could impart.

Each jumper has around 90m to build up speed down the ramp, crouching with their arms behind them, disappearing from the view of those in the grandstand before launching