Background
Peterka was born in Prikrnica, near Ljubljana, Slovenia (then part of Yugoslavia).
Peterka was born in Prikrnica, near Ljubljana, Slovenia (then part of Yugoslavia).
Due to the poor performance of Slovenian jumpers at the time, Peterka was brought in as a replacement for the Four Hills Tournament event in Innsbruck, where he finished eighth. He also finished second behind Michael Uhrmann at the 1996 Junior World Championships.
He is held in regard as one of Slovenia"s most successful sportsmen. Peterka currently works as an assistant coach in the Slovenian women"s ski jumping team He started ski jumping on a small hill (with a K-point at around 20 metres) near his hometown of Moravče, a small town about 30 km north-east from Ljubljana.
He later joined the Triglav ski club in Kranj.
1995-1996 Peterka made his debut on 4 January 1996. This was considered a superb result, thereby making him the leading jumper for Slovenia.
Peterka continued his good form, winning the events in Zakopane and Falun, and finishing the season ninth overall. 1996-1997 The 1996/97 season was a great success for Peterka.
Peterka dominated the overall standings as only one competitor (Dieter Thoma) finished within 200 points.
Peterka finished on top the ski flying standings. On 9 February 1997, Peterka became the first Slovenian to record a jump over 200 metres, landing a 203 m jump at Kulm. 1997-1998 The 1997/98 season was also successful.
At the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Peterka claimed fifth place in the individual large hill event and sixth in the individual normal hill event.
Later career Peterka underwent a personality crisis after his success, with significant drop in results. In the 2001-2002 season, Peterka returned to the ski jumping elite.
The 2002-2003 season was also successful, with Peterka winning two individual events (Kuusamo and Garmisch-Partenkirchen) and finishing the season seventh overall. From 2004 onwards, Peterka never again managed to finish in the top 10 in an individual event.
After the 2010-2011 season, Peterka officially retired from competitive ski jumping.
Standings Wins.
During his career he won fifteen events, two consecutive titles. A ski flying title; and a Four Hills Tournament. He won seven individual events, and the Four Hills Tournament. Peterka won four individual events and a second consecutive title, defeating Kazuyoshi Funaki in the final event of the season. During this time, details of his personal life were discussed in public, mostly his clashes with officials and his relationship with Renata Bohinc, a Slovenian beauty queen who won in 1996. At the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, he won the bronze team medal, together with Peter Žonta, Damjan Fras, and Robert Kranjec. However, at the 2005 World Championships in Oberstdorf he won another bronze team medal for Slovenia, together with Jure Bogataj, Rok Benkovič and Jernej Damjan. This made Peterka the first Slovenian ski jumper to win medals both at the Olympics and at the World Championships. The second, Peterka: leto odločitve ("Peterka: Year of Decision"), was directed by Vlado Škafar in 2002 and focuses on the personality crisis of a young champion who struggles to find his way back to the top.
