Jonny was born in Puerto Rico, and started skiing when he was 9 years old. His brother dared him to ski, and he did. Ever since then he has been skiing. He entered his first competetion soon after he started skiing.He also enjoys playing golf, and wakeboarding. His victory in the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, winning the gold medal in the men's mouguls event was the 1st medal for the USA of the 18th Winter Olympics.He made the US Ski team in 1993, but narowly missed out on a spot to go the 1994 Winter Olympic games in Lillehammer, Norway. 1998 was his 4th year on the US Ski team. The US Ski team was largely successful at the Nagano Games. Jonny won the 1st out of 3 golds for the US Freestyle Skiiers.Since Jonny's win, when he returned to California, there was a lot of fans waiting to greet him. He also stars in a McDonalds commercial for the Olympics, and has made a guest apperance on David Letterman.