He knew he had been lucky and wanted to earn his next chunk of money the "right" way. So, Jeret "Speedy" Peterson took the $550,000 he won during one, unbelievable night at the blackjack table and sank it into real estate.

That was in 2006, right before the bubble burst.

Sometime in 2007, Peterson filed for bankruptcy.

"It's totally backward, right?" Peterson said.

By now, though, Peterson is used to backward _ used to what it's like to sometimes get rewarded for things he didn't really earn and be penalized for things where his heart was in the right place.

Next month, he will be on his third U.S. Olympic freestyle skiing team, and the big issue that used to follow him _ will he or won't he throw his famous five-twist, three-flip Hurricane jump on the aerials course? _ now seems kind of trivial.

Because even though freestyle skiing is what gives Peterson his pathway to occasional fame and more-than-occassional success, there is more to this 28-year-old than the Hurricane.

"I've been in counseling the majority of my life," he said. "I suffer from depression pretty bad. I've always had issues to tackle. I've been in and out of the hospital for suicide attempts. It's something I've had to deal with on a daily basis. Luckily, I've had the friends and coaches and family who allow me to keep on track and not slip."

His 5-year-old sister was killed by a drunken driver when he was young. Peterson was also a victim of sexual abuse. They're not topics he wants to delve into much in public, but he does say that despite his difficult childhood, growing up was not all bad.

"I was too busy to be depressed back then," he said.

His mom is a nurse and Peterson said he "always had this built-in responsibility to help other people." In 2005, he was living with a friend, trying to help him through some rough times.

A few months before the Olympics, his roommate committed suicide while Peterson was in the room.

"That not something I'll ever get over," he said. "You just try to learn how to deal with it."

Part of dealing with it involved giving up skiing for a year and moving back to his roots _ to Idaho _ where he worked in construction. With the help of friends, including the first person who sponsored him in skiing, he learned drywall, tile, hardwood and electrical. He got a general contractor's license. Worked hard. Built things.

"I just think he needed, as Bill Marolt always said, a little timeout," U.S. aerials coach Matt Christensen said, invoking the words of the CEO of the U.S. ski team. "He's not the first athlete who's needed that. I think I'm pretty good about reading where athletes are and how they need to be. He needed some time away from me. I knew it."