Salt Lake City, UT – Police in Utah are reporting that U.S. Freestyle skier Jeret “Speedy” Peterson died late Monday of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Peterson, 29, of Boise, Idaho, called 911 before officers with the Unified Police Department of Greater Salt Lake found his body in Lamb’s Canyon, off Interstate 80 between Salt Lake City and Park City, Utah. A suicide note was found in his vehicle.

“Today is a sad day in our sport,” Bill Marolt, U.S. Ski Team CEO, said Tuesday in a prepared statement. “Jeret `Speedy’ Peterson was a great champion who will be missed and remembered as a positive, innovative force on not only his sport of freestyle aerials, but on the entire U.S. Freestyle Ski Team family and everyone he touched.”

Peterson, an aerials skier, earned the silver medal at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver with his trademark “hurricane,” a trick involving five twists and three flips. This highlight of his career was augmented by a gold medal at the 2006 World Championships and first place in aerials for the 2005 World Cup season. He earned back-to-back World Cup victories at Deer Valley, Utah in January of 2007, the second of which set a world record two-jump score of 268.70, despite freezing temperatures and eight inches of fresh snow at the 2002 Olympic venue. The record still stands.

Peterson, who pleaded not guilty to a drunken driving charge filed in Hailey, Idaho on Friday, had a history of battles with alcohol and depression after a childhood that involved reports of sexual abuse. His sister died at the hands of a drunken driver at the age of five. He was sent home early from the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, following a drunken brawl that earned the ire of U.S. Olympic officials.

“The entire Olympic family is heartbroken to hear the news of Jeret “Speedy” Peterson’s untimely passing,” said U.S. Olympic Committee CEO Scott Blackmun. “I know Speedy’s friends and family were incredibly proud of his effort in Vancouver and his achievements were an inspiration to people all over the world. The personal challenges that Speedy has battled are familiar to all of us, and on behalf of the U.S. Olympic Committee, I’d like to offer my sympathy to Speedy’s family and friends. Today is a sad day.”

His nickname “Speedy” was given to him by coaches when as a young boy when he kept cutting in line to get more jumps into the splash pool. Because of his big helmet, coaches decided he looked like the fabled cartoon character Speed Racer.

He went on to win the ’99 U.S. Junior Championship title, collected aerials bronze at the 2000 and ’01 Junior Worlds Championships, and was a member of three Olympic and four World Championship Teams.

Peterson had not planned on competing during the 2012 season and was a full-time business student at Westminster College in Salt Lake City.