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Son of Drifter
01-10-2006, 10:14 AM
Updated: Jan. 8, 2006, 2:41 PM ET
Maier has one goal left: Olympic gold By Andrew Hood
Special to ESPN.com


"BEAVER CREEK, Colo. -- Hermann Maier was scowling moments after finishing eighth in the World Cup super-G on a snowy Thursday.


After all, eight of Maier's 51 career World Cup victories have come on the treacherously steep run called Birds of Prey, tucked deep in Colorado's snowbound mountains.


Moments later, however, the man known to insiders as "the beast" for his intensity and focus was smiling. It was the same story in Friday's downhill, after finishing off the podium behind the American 1-2 of Daron Rahlves and Bode Miller.




Reuters
Hermann Maier missed the 2002 Olympics, recovering from a motorcycle accident that almost killed him.
Has the Herminator gone soft in his old age?


No. Maier simply wants to enjoy the road to the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Turin, Italy, in what could be his final season as skiing's alpha male.


"I am focusing more on the Olympics this season, because I have only been there one time," Maier said in a press conference earlier in the week. "The last time I was at the Olympics was a long time ago."


For a skier who has continually overcome the odds, Maier believes he has one more surprise in him.


The former bricklayer wants to make up for missing the 2002 Salt Lake City Games following his near-fatal motorcycle crash in 2001 and erase the image that many Americans know of him -- his horrible crash in the 1998 Olympics at Nagano.


In Turin, Maier simply wants to win.


Maier is probably the only skier the average American sports fan will recognize come February in Sestriere, high in the Italian Alps.

As the Herminator, he transcends the linguist land mine of unpronounceable names that typically accompanies the start list of a World Cup ski race.


With four overall World Cup crowns and two Olympic gold medals, his fame stretches far beyond the snow-covered Alps of his native Austria. His rabid fans follow him on the international ski circuit, waving banners, ringing bells and cheering to delirium when he skis.


“ Skiing was not important after my crash because my big goal was to walk again and do normal things that normal people do ... sometimes I didn't feel my legs. That was my biggest worry. ”
— Hermann Maier on coming back from his accident

In America, he's best-known for what's simply called "the crash."


In 1998, an intrepid photographer captured what would become the emblematic image of the Nagano Games. In one freeze-frame, Maier was caught dangling agonizingly in midair before what became the worst agony-of-defeat crash in a generation.


A favorite for victory in the downhill, Maier flew wide over a plunging left turn and went cart-wheeling off course like a ragged doll. The world cringed in anticipation of snapping bones and the tearing of ligaments that come when speed and impact so violently collide.


Maier brushed off wounds that would have stopped lesser men -- a dislocated shoulder, a swollen knee and a bruised sternum -- and three days later roared to gold medals in the giant slalom and super-G.


Just like that, the Herminator legend was born.


Maier entered this weekend's quartet of men's alpine races at Beaver Creek a very different skier than he was in 1998.


His post-Nagano popularity surged to new heights the following season, when he won two gold medals at the world championships in Vail in 1999.


Compatriot and now California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger showed up and the Herminator and the Terminator threw back whiskeys and smoked Cuban cigars to celebrate. The press ate it up.


Maier's road to fame seemed easy, but it was laden with barriers. As a teenager, he was told by ski coaches he was too scrawny to survive the demands of racing down icy slopes at high speeds. The willful Maier never gave up on his dream and he toiled as a bricklayer in the summers to earn money to continue with his freelance training.


"I had a lot of knee problems and I was small and skinny, so I started working as a bricklayer," he said. "That was good for me because I didn't think about skiing and it was good for my body, too."


The hard work transformed his lean 110-pound body into the explosive 200-pound, fullback build he uses today to bash the world's most treacherous race courses. By 24, he was never going to lay another brick again.


His big chance came in early 1996, when he caught the eye of coaches after ripping down the course at a World Cup event as a "fore-runner," an honor usually held for local wannabe ski racers, with a time that would have placed him among the favorites.


Later that season, he stormed to the overall title in skiing's minor-league series called the Europa Cup. That earned him the elusive ticket to the national team and he quickly used his fearless attacking style to score his first World Cup trophy in 1997.


Following Nagano, Maier revealed newfound maturity and replaced his "win or crash" attitude with a more calculating, tactical style. He racked up two more World Cup titles in 2000 and 2001 and seemed poised to roar into Salt Lake City for a likely gold-medal run when disaster struck.


Driving home on a motorcycle from a summer training session, Maier collided with a car in a near-fatal accident. The prognosis was grim for an athlete who made his living on skis: a compound fracture on his lower left leg, nerve damage and internal bleeding.


His leg was so mangled doctors nearly amputated it, and he was forced to sit out the entire 2002 and 2003 seasons. He couldn't bear missing the 2002 Winter Olympics, so he hid away in the Caribbean. Most everyone agreed his career was over.


"Skiing was not important after my crash because my big goal was to walk again and do normal things that normal people do," he said. "It wasn't just my leg. I had big problems in my back and sometimes I didn't feel my legs. That was my biggest worry."


Stubborn yet again and perhaps haunted by his days as a laborer, Maier slowly rebuilt his strength through cross-country skiing and cycling. He suffered through intense rehabilitation workouts and began skiing despite agonizing pain.


"It was a big problem skiing with pain," said Maier, who in true fashion continues to ride motorcycles. "I don't know how I kept going."


After a long convalescence, he returned to racing in the 2003-04 season with low expectations, but Maier confounded the naysayers yet again. In a comeback that many say rivaled Lance Armstrong's return from cancer to win the Tour de France, Maier won his fourth World Cup crown.


In fact, Armstrong wrote the forward to Maier's new autobiography: "Hermann Maier: The Race of My Life," due out in December.


If Maier makes it to Turin, likely but not guaranteed on the hyper-competitive Austrian team, he will be looking to put the finishing touch on what's been one of the most remarkable careers in skiing history.


He won't talk about retirement just yet, but what's sure is that he will be barreling down the piste Feb. 10-26 during the Winter Olympiad looking for redemption.


"In 1998, I was in perfect shape and I had a perfect season. For me, every race was the same, it didn't matter if it was a World Cup or an Olympic Games," he said. "Now, it's a little bit different. I've won a lot of races. The Olympic Games are much more important to me."


For Maier, the road to Turin started in October with a surprising season-opening giant slalom victory at Sölden over Bode Miller, America's defending World Cup champion and the universal man to beat in Turin.


"It was a great victory for me because I never expected to win there again," Maier said. "[Miller] had a big advantage after, so I was surprised to win the race. It was a good start to the season."


This weekend in Beaver Creek, Maier was looking rediscover his mojo ahead of Turin.


For a skier who has an uncanny ability to deliver when all the cards are on the table, the Herminator should never be counted out."


Andrew Hood is a freelance writer living in Spain and the author of "Armstrong Rewrites History: The 2004 Tour de France" for VeloPress.

:twisted:

Greg
01-10-2006, 10:18 AM
SOD - just provide the link to the article. No need to copy/paste the entire article here. It borders on copyright enfringement. I struggle with this when folks copy/paste articles from AZ all the time. Thanks!

Son of Drifter
01-10-2006, 01:50 PM
SOD - just provide the link to the article. No need to copy/paste the entire article here. It borders on copyright enfringement. I struggle with this when folks copy/paste articles from AZ all the time. Thanks!

I'll do that in the future.

Greg
01-10-2006, 02:06 PM
SOD - just provide the link to the article. No need to copy/paste the entire article here. It borders on copyright enfringement. I struggle with this when folks copy/paste articles from AZ all the time. Thanks!

I'll do that in the future.
Thanks.

Phineas
01-10-2006, 02:10 PM
he rules! I'm rooting for him in all speed events. he appreciates it more!