This past week the US Ski Team announced their Olympic alpine roster. For the women there will be Julia Mancuso, Mikaela Shiffrin, Stacey Cook, Julia Ford, Megan McJames, Laurenne Ross, Leeanne Smith, Resi Stiegler, and Jacqueline Reiss. Lindsey Vonn will be announcing the action in the sports booth. For the men we have Bode Miller, Ted “Ligety-Split,” David Chodounsky, Erik Fisher, Travis Gaong, Jared Goldberg, Tim Jitloff, Nolan Kasper, Steven Nyman, Marco Sullivan, and Andrew Weibrecht. Last week we looked at some of the lady contenders. This week let’s take a look at the two favorites for the men.
Bode Miller – Olympic medalist Bode Miller (36) was chosen this past Sunday to the U.S. alpine ski team for his upcoming fifth Olympics. The presumed ready-to-retire old man of skiing appears to be making a comeback. He finished second in a super-G last weekend in Kitzbuehel, Austria. The day before that he finished third in another downhill race. Miller has previously won 5 Olympic medals over the last four Olympics. He is the most successful male alpine ski racer to come from the U.S. He’s just not famous in our country but he is considered one of the greatest World Cup racers of all time, harvesting 33 victories. He is one of only five men to ever win World Cup events in all five disciplines.
Bode Miller
Bode grew up in Franconia, New Hampshire right next door to Cannon Mountain Ski area. His parents were New Age hippies who raised Bode and his two siblings in a log cabin smack in the middle of 450 acres of forest without electricity or indoor plumbing. He was home-schooled until the third grade, at which time his parents couldn’t stand each other anymore and divorced. He then attended Carrabassett Valley Academy, a ski racing school in Maine. His grandparents also started a racing camp where he also learned to play tennis and soccer.
Miller is notorious for his reckless style of skiing. He’s known for risking crashes to gain the extra tenths of a second to win medals. Miller once stated his goal as a skier is not win medals but to ski “as fast as the natural universe will allow.” Miller also gained notoriety for his reclusive nature and his outspoken attention-getting comments.
More recently Miller obtained media attention after he announced an engagement to a pro beach volleyball player and model Morgan Beck while his previous girlfriend Sara McKenna was pregnant with their son. He subsequently married Beck and the pregnant McKenna left the state to live in New York. Miller said “You can’t do that” and thus began a bitter custody dispute. One bone of contention between the parents is what to name their son. Miller calls his son “Nate” but his mother calls him “Sam.” Now I have to tell you, that’s a first. In my professional life I’ve been involved in hundreds of child custody battles. I had parents bare their teeth over who gets the right to cut their child’s hair and what to call his or her stepmother. This is the first time though I ever heard of parents fussing over what to name their kid. The parents recently came to a temporary agreement that will allow dad to take Nate (or is it Sam) to Sochi next month. Let’s hope Bode’s personal life doesn’t distract him from his skiing.
Ted Ligety – This will be Ted’s third Olympics. Now 29 Theodore Sharp Ligety grew up in Park City Utah (“Gee, where should I ski today? Park City? Deer Valley? The Canyons?”). Like all the other champion ski racers he attended a school devoted to developing ski talent. In his case it was The Winter Sports School, from which he graduated in 2002.
In the 2006 Olympics he won the gold in the combined event He then won a gold medal in the giant slalom at the 2011 World Championships. He repeated this victory last year at Schladming, Austria. Not happy with just that victory he surprised everyone by winning a gold medal in the super G and a third gold medal in the super combined. As of end of last season he had racked up 20 World Cup victories. Even though he has fewer victories than his ski bum buddy Bode Miller, Ted thinks he’s the better skier. He’s currently ranked fourth in the men’s World Cup standings. Ted like to go fast, hence his nickname “Ligety-Split.” He’s also been called “Mr. GS.”
Ted Ligety
To look at Theodore he hardly looks like the glamorous ski racer of the Robert Redford variety. He has shaggy blond hair and a bowlegged walk. Writers have described him as looking more like a pissed-off lift operator than a potential Olympian legend. While all world class athletes hate to lose, Theodore hates it even more than usual. For example, he raced his girlfriend on a Slalom course at Mammoth. He gave her a head start and waits until she’s almost to the bottom. He takes off with the intent of beating her to the bottom. He criminally assaults the gates and you hear them go “whack-thump” as he attacks the course. He won.
Theodore and his girlfriend Mia Pascoe live together in Park City in a modest 5,600 square foot chalet a few minutes from the slopes. Like many ski bums, when he’s not skiing he’s on a mountain bike. Look to see a lot of “Mr. GS” this coming Olympics, not only on the slopes but also during the commercials. He recently signed a deal with Coca Cola to costar in their commercials with their signature polar bears. The bears wanted top billing. Who’s going to argue with a polar bear?
Ski Bums 