Krueger has been making waves in the water skiing world for quite some time now. He ranks second in the world in men’s jumping and set the World Record in the summer of 2003 by jumping 233 feet in the tradition jump. Though water skiing is not an Olympic sport, it is an exhibition sport, which means that there is a chance it could be accepted to the Games in the future. Krueger has been the U.S. Olympic Committee Water Ski Male Athlete of the Year for the past four years in a row.

The sport definitely runs in his blood. He was on water skies by age three and started competing at age six. His two sisters and both parents have competed nationally, and Kruger just married fellow U.S. Water Ski Athlete Karen Truelove, who is ranked first in the world in women’s slalom.

Q1: How did you end up going pro?

FREDDY KRUEGER: I was a good amateur skier but had never won a national competition. In 1993 I went to college in Louisiana and met a guy by the name of Chris Sullivan. In 1995 we moved to Baton Rouge and lived at Jay Bennett's Ski School, and Jay and Chris were going to help me become the jumper I always wanted to be. My folks were not exactly excited at the aspect of me becoming a pro skier, so my mom informed me I could stay in Louisiana for one summer, under the terms that she would have an accounting internship waiting for me in her office in the summer of ‘96 so I could stop dreaming and start getting serious. In my first year as a pro I won two pro events and finished third on the yearend standings, because I had nothing to lose and everything to gain. Suddenly I was making money and managed to hold that internship off. Today I try to remember that sense of urgency...and keep it close.

Q2: What is life like as a professional water skier?

FREDDY KRUEGER: I'm actually quite lucky as a pro skier because my wife, Karen Truelove, is also a pro water skier, and we live on the lake we train at. So a typical day would include a 7 a.m. wakeup for breakfast and on the water training from about 8:30 a.m. to noon. We then grab a quick lunch and take care of business e-mails and sponsor obligations. Next we head to the gym or to another workout around 2:00 and get back home around 5 p.m. If Karen and I are training by ourselves it goes pretty smooth, but a lot of times the days get dragged out as other athletes come and train at our place.

Q3: Did you and your wife have a wedding with any water skiing themes?

FREDDY KRUEGER: No, no, no...No water skiing themes. We live skiing enough; we didn't want to cheese up our wedding with skiing themes. But we did have a bunch of our skiing buddies come to the wedding and needless to say the reception managed to get out of hand!

Q4: What is a typical water skiing competition like?

FREDDY KRUEGER: My best event is jumping, and with this nothing matters but distance – we have no technique judging requirements. During a normal compeition myself and another 20 guys will go through a semifinal round cutting down to about five to seven jumpers for the finals. The competition resumes the following day. In the finals you get three jumps and the longest distance wins. There are two versions of jumping however, traditional and ski fly. In traditional jumping the boat is about 350 horsepower and will run a constant 35 mph. We as skiers will do a crack the whip type cut and increase our speed to near 70 mph at the bottom of the 6 foot tall, 22 foot long ramp. In ski flying we use boats with nearly 500 horsepower and the boat enters the jump course at 45 mph and goes to wide open as we cut to the jump. The ramp is still 6 feet tall, but it’s 24 feet long for an easier launch. The record here is 299, and obviously our goal is to reach the elusive 300 feet, the length of a football field!

Q5: Have you ever injured yourself? What are the risks of water skiing?

FREDDY KRUEGER: I have had multiple concussions from crashes while jumping. I have bruised my ribs pretty severely and last summer tore a small piece of meniscus that I had scoped last fall. I've also had a couple of bone bruises and what was thought to be a stress-fractured femur. But the most common injuries in jumping are knees. My wife Karen has had surgery on both her ACL's, and it’s certainly the most common injury.

Q6: What are your thoughts about water skiing not yet being an Olympic sport?

FREDDY KRUEGER: It’s frustrating for sure. We have come unbelievably far with cruise control systems that drive the boat to ensure everyone gets the same pull. We have taken as much of the human factor out of the sport to eliminate human error, but it sounds like there is a need for a smaller Olympics rather than bigger.

Q7: Okay, we have to ask… Tell us about the name! Is it real?

FREDDY KRUEGER: Yep, Frederick August Krueger IV. In 1975 (my birth year) it really didn't seem like a big deal to my folks! My dad was always known as "Fred" or "Big Fred," so I became Freddy. I was in about the seventh grade when the Nightmare movies came out, and it made life interesting. Honestly, it got me through high school. I was really, really little and most people would let me slide without a beating, because they thought my name was cool. It probably didn't hurt that my dad was an Industrial Arts teacher at my high school. His room was right down near the boiler room!

Q8: Are you a scary movie fan?

FREDDY KRUEGER: Not even a little bit. My mom is one of the jumpiest people you will ever meet and I got her genes on that one. I have never even sat through a full Nightmare on Elm Street. I'm a little more of an action kind of guy.

Q9: What is your favorite country to compete in other than the U.S.?

FREDDY KRUEGER: Europe is always nice, but Australia is probably my favorite. The people are so nice and we have this tournament in Melbourne during the Moomba Festival in early March. We have about 100,000 people pass through the site each day and 15 hours of live television coverage over a three-day weekend. It’s the closest thing we have to a Superbowl!

Q10: What do you consider your biggest accomplishment in water skiing? In life?

FREDDY KRUEGER: In water skiing I think its setting world records. To do what no one else ever has in your respective event is an unbelievable feeling and accomplishment. In life, it is trying to be a good Christian man. My dad gave me some big shoes to fill and I gage myself not only on meeting his expectations, but God's too. I try, but I'm not sure I want to see that scorecard!