Female class necessary or not - Lise Nansen, formerly Aune, is one of the two perfect examples in this skydiving world proving as a living example that female competitors can be just as good as males (or better).

As a member of the Norwegian national team, DeLand Norgies, she was with the team when they captured the bronze medal at the 1998 World Cup in Portugal and the 1999 World Meet in Australia. Lise and her team's success is a model of true dedication to competitive Formation Skydiving.

As a young person, Lise got a taste for traveling around the world with her family. Her father's job as an engineer kept the family on the move and they lived for three years in Kenya and a year in Germany among other places.

Lise said skydiving had been a dream of hers. Her inspiration came from a friend of her brother and it was the emotional way he talked about his love of the sport that motivated her.

At age 17 Lise made her first jump as a static line student at RW Club Nimbus in Moss, Norway. The club was founded in the early 70s by Eilif Ness, an early RW devotee. Later on, Ness turned out to be the President of the International Parachute Commission before B.J. Worth took the position.

Being a student with limited resources, Lise didn't get many opportunities to jump. Her pilot's license did, however, keep her close to the sport by flying jump planes.

When she graduated high school in 1986, she started working. She also signed up for night classes at a business school. Although flying planes had been a career goal, she decided to stop flying and set skydiving as a priority.

In 1988, Lise bought a home with her boyfriend, a professional rigger and skydiver. She worked as a skydiving instructor in the summer and a para-gliding instructor in the winter.

In 1988 she also joined her first 4-way team, "Familien". As she struggled with her obligation for her house, Lise said she became certain there was more to life - like real skydiving and travel.

When the Norwegian project began in 1989, she knew she wanted to participate some day. However, she continued with Familien and her boyfriend as a team member until 1991. He was not absorbed in the sport as she was. Lise eventually broke up the relationship and went to Germany in 1992 to pursue a business opportunity.

By 1993, she returned to Norway. She used the money she had saved  to attend basics camp and selection camp in the spring of 1994. Norway created a very successful and efficient system to bring up their skydiving talent to a top level earlier than all other countries in the skydiving world. With similar systems, the big country with small population have been producing world class athletes in many other sports for a long time. Norwegian skydivers had the opportunity to sign up at "basis camps" where they could learn the basics of the sport and show their talent. After being successful in such a camp, recommended participants could move up to the next level and sign up for the "selection camp". The selection camp was the door to the national teams supported by government  and association. Irv Callahan was the coach at Lise's first basics camp. He recommended her for the selection camp and was sure that she would make the national team this year. And Lise made the cut for the Norwegian 8-way team at the camp in 1994.

The training with the new 8-way team began in August 1994. 4-way team member Ken Hansen was coaching the 8-way team at their first training camp in DeLand in November 1994. Long time friend Pal Kolbenstvedt also attended the training camps with the current national 4-way team, and soon they started dating. The 8-way training continued in the spring of 1995 with coaches Darren Schuster and then Craig Buxton who was coaching the Norwegian 4-way team at the same time. The 8-way team had to change three team members in 1995 and finally scored 8.5 average at the World Meet in Gap, France. The Norwegian 4-way team, which included Pal, placed fourth at the same meet. The Norwegian association decided to disband the 4-way team after it failed to win a medal for the third time. Eilif Ness, founder of her first parachuting club, was in charge for this decision. However, Lise's boyfriend Pal decided to continue with the 8-way, which had now become the project's  priority event. Golden Knight 8-way World Champion, Joe Trinko, became the Norwegian head coach in 1996.  But at the World Cup in Belgium, the Norwegian team ended up only on fourth place again, this time in the 8-way event. After this event, Ann Kristin Wiik, a sports administration officer, was hired to evaluate the situation. The former "Project 2000" team program now became the national team project. Although Wiik was not a skydiver, she developed a system and a 3-year plan to enhance performance and create the best 4-way team possible. In the fall of 1996, Pal and Lise were selected together with Carl-Erik Tuv and Torstein Valen for the new national team. Tuv and Valen had both been 8-way team members since 1994. Valen was Lise's piece partner in 8-way.

The 4-way training began late in 1996 on creepers and in classrooms. Meetings for ground training in Oslo were held every other week. The winter in Norway does not allow any skydiving. But the team was motivated and committed enough to begin the preparations for the first real training on the ground. Craig Buxton was the new head coach for the 1997 season. Team goal was a 16.0 average at the world meet. The training began with the first camp in the spring of 1997 in DeLand.  The Norgies had about 500 jumps together before the World Championship in Turkey 1997. They had progressed from a 12 point average to a 16.1 average and took sixth place at the meet. In 1998 the team returned to DeLand to train with Solly Williams from here on. Many changes were implemented at that time, including a new continuity plan and new basic body positions. The goal went up to 18.0 average at the world meet. With 700 training jumps completed, the team won its first bronze medal at the World Cup in Portugal with exactly 18.0 average. The medal was a big step for the team and the skydiving program was moved into the Olympic Support Program in Norway. By now, these four Norgies had trained together for four years in 4-way and 8-way. But the motivation was still at the highest level after this success. Now, the training schedule was stepped up to 1,000 jumps and goals of another medal, a 19 plus average, and to win one round at the World Championship in 1999 was instituted. The race between the Norgies and the British team "Sebastian XL" for the bronze medal remains unforgettable. The Norgies won by one point in the last round. The first bronze medal at a World Championship travelled to Norway. Lise's team and the 19.1 average had left an impression even on the top teams from the United States and France.

Although Wiik had  made only a three-year plan for the team, which was to have ended in 1999, the team continued with even more support, motivation and energy.

With 1,000 training jumps before the 2000 World Cup, DeLand Norgies and DeLand PD Blue were involved in one of the most exciting competitions of the event. Both teams tied for third place and had a jump-off.

PD Blue pushed ahead and the Norgies had to settle on fourth place. Since the World Cup, the Norgies have been on a strict training schedule. At the first meet of the Florida Skydiving League on January 28, the Norgies walked away with a 22.2 average.

The Norgies have less than five months left to prepare their first serious challenge towards a gold medal. Defending world Champion France Perris-Maubeuge and Airspeed Vertical know very well that the Norgies are not happy with bronze medals anymore.

Although the excitement in the Norwegian headquarters in DeLand has been on high levels, Lise remains the calm heart and soul of the Norwegian team family. Her positive and happy attitude and confidence, and her consistently smiling face seem to be contageous. The whole team always leaves the impression that this is all just a fun game. Well, it should be...

UPDATE IN FEBRUARY 2016

It seems like many Formation Skydiving competitors stay in the sport for a very long time, which makes it even more necessary to follow up on the profile stories. Lise Aune Nansen's NSL Profile was published in April 2001, when she was 34 years of age and had 17 years in the sport. The update adds another 15 years to the time in the sport, which makes it 32 years. That's a long time, and Lise Aune Nansen is not an exception.

Her name was still Lise Aune 14 years ago, and before she met and married Nikolai Nansen, a descendant of Fridtjof Nansen, who was a Norwegian explorer, scientist, diplomat, humanitarian and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. Nikolai Nansen is a skydiver and 4-way competitor, too.

The original profile story finished short of the second trip of the DeLand Norgies to a World Championship of Formation Skydiving. The DeLand Norgies, with Outside Center Lise Aune, had won the bronze medals in 1999 and were ready to go for more at the World Air Games 2001 in Spain.

This time, the Norgies were within striking distance of the gold (Arizona Airspeed 21.4) and silver (France 21.2) medals and finished again in 3rd place with a 20.6 average.

The same lineup made a new 2-year plan and challenged the U.S.A. and France once again in 2003, while the British XL team tried to catch the DeLand Norgies. France on home turf and the Golden Knights were too strong, and the Norgies won the bronze medals for the third time by one single point over XL.

DeLand Norgies and XL both retired the competitive part of their team projects after the Mondial 2003, even though they never completely disbanded. The members of both teams are still actively involved in 4-way competition, and the Norgies still celebrate their annual reunion at the national championships after a 3-year break between 2004 and 2006.

In fact, the DeLand Norgies keep winning the national 4-way title year after year, and Lise Nansen still has the original lineup by her side. They are once again the reigning Norwegian 4-way champions after an 18.9 outdoor average last year. The team members have also become her best friends, and the reunions are only a part of the social events of the DeLand Norgies.

Her daughter Kari just turned 12 years old. She was born in February 2004, which means that she was actually a bronze medal winner at the World Meet 2003, as well...