You are here: Home >Interviews/Marie Botved-Studd
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March, 2001
Interview by Kerry Lloyd
Traditionally competitive wakeboarding has been a sport limited mostly to the younger crowd who seem impervious to the strains and pains of the sometimes hard falls.
Danish born wakeboarder Marie Botved-Studd is definitely not your stereotypical wakeboarder. Born in 1970, she has excelled in the sport winning European championships for the past two years, and competing in events such as the U.S. Pro Tour, Gravity Games, and X-Games.
In addition to her on-water accomplishments Marie has managed to obtain her BA degree in International Finance and Marketing, and an MBA in Marketing and Sports Enterprise.
Aquaskier recently had an opportunity to speak with Marie in the following interview. |
AQUASKIER
When and where were you born?
Copenhagen, Denmark 1970
AQUASKIER
Do your parents live there?
MARIE
Yes, all of my family lives in Denmark.
AQUASKIER
Do you have or brothers or sisters?
MARIE
Yes, I have two sisters, an older one and a younger one. One lives in Denmark and the other one lives in Germany.
AQUASKIER
What are their names?
MARIE
Charlotte and Annika
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"I'm not the rider that
has the hardest tricks on tour but I usually have a good combination
that the judges often like."
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AQUASKIER
Do either one of them wakeboard?
MARIE
No, one horse rides and the other one doesn't do any sports at all.
AQUASKIER
Do you have any pets?
MARIE
Yes, I have a little Chihuahua, an American Pit Bull, and we just got a French Mastiff, which is just a puppy.
AQUASKIER
Do you ever take them out in the boat?
MARIE
The little one has been in the boat every since he was a puppy so he's got his own little seat cushion and everything under the windshield where he watches me ride.
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Watching Marie Go Big from his seat on the dash is her dog Michelob, better known as Mickey |
AQUASKIER
Where did you go to school?
MARIE
I got my Bachelors degree at the University of Miami and my MBA degree at Florida Atlantic University. Before attending school in the U.S. I was studying in Europe.
AQUASKIER
What was your major?
MARIE
Marketing and Sports Enterprise.
AQUASKIER
Where do you currently live?
MARIE
I live in West Palm Beach.
AQUASKIER
Where do you train?
MARIE
In my backyard. We have a house on a ski lake and that's where I train. It's just a walk down to the dock where I keep my boat.
AQUASKIER
How often do you train?
MARIE
When the season comes along maybe 5 times a week. During winter I'll take 2-3 months off to do other stuff
such as visit my family back home and playing golf. Now with the season coming
back in I'm skiing probably 4 times per week and soon I'll be increasing it to 5 times.
AQUASKIER
Who is your coach?
MARIE
Mostly my
husband. He used to be a very good water skier on the British National Team and he's pretty much coaching me in Wakeboarding. Other than that, I ride a little bit with Tara Hamilton and
sometimes train with Chet Railey. Chet also has a ski school and coaches waterskiing and wakeboarding,
and lives a half and hour from here.
AQUASKIER
What kind of board setup do you have?
MARIE
I'm riding a CWB, a Rob Struharik, 132 with Apex bindings.
AQUASKIER
Does your husband wakeboard or waterski?
MARIE
No not really. He is in the business of selling construction cranes but
since he works from home he is able to help me out in my training everyday. He used to ski but he retired about 5 years ago
when he started working in the cranes business.
AQUASKIER
So he doesn't even ski recreationally anymore?
MARIE
He
does. We actually have a wakeboard boat and a ski boat and once in a while he will go out and slalom.
He doesn't wakeboard because it hurts his knees.
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Got Milk? German Milk Commercial Featuring Marie |
AQUASKIER
What are your favorite tricks?
MARIE
I love any tricks that go big. I love to spin and do 360's and 540's but I have a few other tricks that I want to learn this year. There are a lot of off-axis tricks going on right now that really appeal to me so I've started working on those, tricks like Tootsie Rolls and handle pass rotations. Any big inverts I love, I love grabbing the board when I do a trick and the style of it. I think that's pretty cool. My style is really kind of an overall style. I try to be stylish, have big tricks, difficult tricks and a nice combination of everything. I'm not the rider that has the hardest tricks on tour but I usually have a good combination that the judges often like.
AQUASKIER
What do you like most about wakeboarding?
MARIE
I think it's the feeling of being out there
where you can be so creative. I used to be a skier and still like skiing
but I just think there are so many things you can do on a wakeboard. The progression is so fast compared to skiing which takes so much more time just to progress one more buoy or a couple of inches in jumping. So, I think it's just the freedom in wakeboarding that I like
and being able to do whatever you want. In competition you can create your own passes and which tricks you want to do.
It's nice to be able to do that. Other than that I love the water, I love boats and doing sports on that water.
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"The day when it comes that I think I should be doing something else then I will move on....." |
AQUASKIER
How long have you been wakeboarding?
MARIE
4 1/2 years now. I think I'm going on my 5th season. Before that I was actually 3-event skiing for the Danish National Team for a couple of years.
AQUASKIER
Who are your sponsors?
MARIE
My sponsors are CWB-Connelly, Malibu Boats, Billabong Clothing, Smith Eyewear, and Reef Shoes.
AQUASKIER
Have you ever been injured wakeboarding?
MARIE
I hurt myself in '97 at the European Championships. I was doing a front flip and hyper-extended my knee and was out for 6 months. I had a little surgery to clean up the knee after that and it's been good since. It's hard not to get injured at some point.
AQUASKIER
Do your parents ever come and watch you compete?
MARIE
Very seldom but they have watched at
some main events. Last year they came and watched me at the World Championships and the year before that the European Championships. Since they live so far from me they don't participate in what I'm doing but when it comes to the big events they like to come watch and see me perform.
AQUASKIER
How did you get involved in wakeboarding?
MARIE
I used to ride at a place called Okeeheelee Park, which is a major park with 4 ski lakes in West Palm Beach offering skiing and jumping. One Sunday many of my friends were wakeboarding and I just slowly got interested in watching them. Later I got to try a board and it was a awesome feeling and a couple of months later I was just wakeboarding when I realized that I hadn't skied in a while. It was the influence of other people around me that got me into the sport.
AQUASKIER
When you came to Florida was it for the purpose of wakeboarding or skiing?
MARIE
It was for a combination of studies and skiing. My parents always wanted me to finish my education along with skiing. When I started wakeboarding I still had to do something on the side so I started my MBA degree along with wakeboarding. I graduated a year and half ago and I've been pretty much full time wakeboarding every since. I'm enjoying wakeboarding as much as I can. It's such a privileged life to have where you don't really work. Your work is on the water wakeboarding. You get to travel a lot and see so many things. I know it's not something that's not going to last forever, you get old or you have injuries and all that stuff. When my career in wakeboarding is over then I'd like to be able to get a decent job hopefully in sports and do something I like as much as I do wakeboarding.
AQUASKIER
Do you ever plan to return to Denmark or do you plan to stay
here in the U.S.?
MARIE
I think for now we will stay here. My husband and I really like it here but along the road maybe 5-10 years from now I think we might consider going back, maybe not to Denmark but to England since my husband is English. That's down the road since we just finished building a house here and are pretty much settled where we are.
AQUASKIER
What's the wakeboarding scene like in Demark?
MARIE
In Denmark it's quite
small. The weather is just not very nice so you don't have that many
months in the season. There are a few ski clubs but there's not that many people who have wakeboard boats so it
limits the amount of wakeboarding you can do. The European wakeboarding
scene in Italy, France, Switzerland have come up with really good riders and it's a
booming sport in countries other than Denmark. The other countries have really gotten into it and are coming out with some good riders that are starting to compete on the American Pro Tour. They are
still a little bit behind on an overall level but they are getting there.
AQUASKIER
What are your plans for the future on and off the water?
MARIE
On the water I'm pretty much
just taking it one season at a time. I want to make sure that I enjoy what I'm doing so I'm
taking this season and making the most of it and then I'll take it as it
goes. There are so many changes in the wakeboarding scene. It's tiring sometimes because there's so much traveling
so I'm just taking it easy. My plans for the future are just to carry on and enjoy what I'm doing. The day when it comes that I think I should be doing something else then I will move on but for the next two years I'm going to put a lot of effort into wakeboarding.
Later on I want to start a family and get a job in sports marketing.
AQUASKIER
What is your greatest personal accomplishment?
MARIE
I think the way of life I have right now makes me feel I've done well. I'm doing a sport that I love, my husband and parents are supportive, and the whole situation I'm proud of. Wakeboarding wise I have a few titles on the European championships and came in second in the worlds in '98 and I've had many close finishes. I'm really antsy to get out there and to win one of the major events in America. I've always finished second or third so it's kind of a challenge to finally step up to the podium one more time. That's the kind of stuff I want to do and is important to me.
AQUASKIER
What kind of advice do you have for other people wanting to learn to wakeboard?
MARIE
To enjoy it and to know that it's a really friendly sport for all ages. More and more in wakeboarding it's young people you see and everything is easy and if they fall it doesn't hurt but there are so many different people enjoying wakeboarding. Myself I'm not that young anymore and I'm enjoying it and I've been doing some clinics seeing some people in their 40's and 50's and they are crazy about wakeboarding, they enjoy it and love it. It's great to see that it attracts a whole spectrum of people from all ages and interest. It's really nice, the wakeboarding scene and atmosphere is really nice, I like it. It's very relaxed and most people are really friendly toward each other and very helpful, so just tell them to go out there and try it and have some friends with them. It's really a nice sport what you do with all the people; it's a very social
sport.
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