Jeremy Bloom’s Road From Athletic Superstar To Do-Good Champ! (Healthy Hollywood)

Healthy Hollywood is in awe of former Olympic skier and ex-NFL player Jeremy Bloom.

First of all, this guy is a major double threat on the athletic front. He’s competed in two Olympic skiing competitions, is an 11-time World Cup gold medalist and managed to play professional football.

“I told my mom when I was 10 that I was going to ski in the Olympics and play in the NFL. She was like, ‘You can do it, no problem.’

And, now looking back, being able to experience both of those things at the level I wanted to, I feel very lucky,” Jeremy tells Healthy Hollywood.

I would say mission accomplished.

But, his athletic success is only the start of this 31-year-old’s accomplishments. To list all that he does makes my head spin and certainly make me feel like I should be doing more!

Nowadays, he runs a successful Internet company called Integrate, but he’s most proud of his nonprofit, Wish of a Lifetime. He created this organization to grant the wish of a lifetime to senior citizens.

“It’s the most rewarding thing I have ever done to be a small part in changing a 90-year-old man or woman’s life. It’s a feeling that winning a gold medal or football game could never have duplicated for me. So it’s kind of selfish cause of mine because I get so much out of it,” he adds.

In 2010, Wish of a Lifetime established a partnership Brookdale Senior Living with more than 650 residences serving 67,000 seniors nationwide to grant wishes to their residents across the country

Just listening to Jeremy talk about his organization and all the good that he’s able to do will make any women’s heart swoon (certainly mine). He tells me the inspiration behind Wish of a Lifetime came while traveling a lot during his skiing days.

“I travelled the world with the U.S. Ski Team. We got to go to Japan. I spent a lot of time in Europe and South America. I just saw other cultures and how they respected the oldest people in their country so much. I thought that’s so cool and want my grandparents to have that level of respect and appreciation,” explains Jeremy.

Jeremy started Wish of a Lifetime five years ago and is coming up on 1,000 wishes granted.

“These people helped pave our roads and give us life and fight for our independence in World War 2. This generation did a lot for us,” he says.

While he no longer plays professional sports, this busy guy does find time to be a college football correspondent and will cover the Olympics in Sochi for NBC Sports.

“My competition is that instead of skiing or playing football, I have a mic in front of my face and I am talking about it,” Jeremy adds.

For more on Jeremy and his incredible Wish of a Lifetime organization, check out www.seniorwish.org

— Terri MacLeod