Bode Miller wins super-combined for 1st Olympic gold, 3rd medal in 3 races at Vancouver Games

Miller wins super-combined for 1st Olympic gold

WHISTLER, British Columbia — Whether Bode Miller acknowledges it himself or not, one Olympic gold medal forever changes the way his skiing career will be viewed.

For all of his many accomplishments — two World Cup overall titles, a U.S.-record 32 World Cup race victories, four world championships, Olympic medals of silver and bronze — the one thing Miller never had done was have a gold medal draped around his neck at a Winter Games.

Until Sunday. Until he capped one sublime week by finishing first in the super-combined event that signifies all-around ability, giving him a record-tying three medals in three events at these Olympics.

Quite a comeback from his infamous flop at the 2006 Turin Games and his near-retirement last year.

“The gold medal is great. I think it’s perfect. Ideally, that’s what everyone is shooting for. But the way I skied these last races is what matters. I would’ve been proud of that skiing with a medal or not,” Miller said after turning in the third-fastest slalom leg for an overall time of 2 minutes, 44.92 seconds, a comfortable 0.33 ahead of Ivica Kostelic of Croatia. Silvan Zurbriggen of Switzerland got the bronze.

The 32-year-old from Franconia, N.H., conquered a tricky course with sometimes-spectacular skiing that reminded him of being a kid on the slopes. He overcame a big deficit by pushing himself despite a bum left knee and an aching right ankle. In sum, he turned in a performance that pleased him, regardless of what the leaderboard said.

“The way I executed — the way I skied — is something I’ll be proud of the rest of my life,” Miller said.

Just like that, what happened in Italy four years ago suddenly becomes an aberration, not his defining moment. Now he’ll always be seen by those outside the sport as one of Alpine skiing’s greats who frittered away one Olympics, not a should-have-been who couldn’t handle the Olympics.

“Bode has now done everything you can in skiing. He’s won World Cups. He’s won World Cup overall titles. He’s won medals in every color,” said Will Brandenburg of Spokane, Wash., who finished 10th in his Olympic debut. “And now he’s got the gold. And I think that’s big. He’s one of the best skiers of all time now, and no one can discredit that.”

Don’t forget: Miller might not even be done.

There are two races left at Whistler — Tuesday’s giant slalom and Saturday’s slalom — and there is reason to believe Miller could become the first man to win four medals at a single Olympics.

“I am in a good position to do it,” he said.

He won a bronze in Monday’s downhill and a silver in Friday’s super-G, adding to two silvers at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games. The five Alpine medals tie him for the second-most by any man in Olympic history, behind only the eight won by Kjetil Andre Aamodt of Norway.

Inevitably, Miller was asked why he’s doing this now, and did not in 2006, when he tuned out, partied hard and failed to live up to expectations. Miller only finished two of five races back then, never better than fifth place.

In short, he said, what happened there was a reaction to all of those expectations and the way he was set up to be the star of those Olympics. What’s happening here, basically, is a reaction to enjoying a fresh sense of excitement after taking time away from skiing and thinking about quitting before eventually deciding in September to return to the U.S. Ski Team.

“The Olympics is definitely, in my mind, a two-sided coin. It has all the best things in sports. It has amazing energy and enthusiasm, passion, inspiration,” he said.

“On the flip side, it’s the opposite, and that’s the corruption and the abuse and the money, and I’m not pointing fingers, but that’s what was bothering me — being thrust in the middle of that, being the poster boy for that, when it’s the absolute thing I despised the most in the world, was really draining on my inspiration, my level of passion, and those are things that I function on primarily when I’m racing. So I just had the plug pulled out on my most important fuel source.”

He’s doing just fine at the moment.

Miller’s father, Woody, who was at Sunday’s race, said Bode “was hungry” to perform well this time around.

“He’s enjoying himself. That’s always been key for him. He lost that. That was what was key in Torino,” Woody Miller said. “He was going through the motions, but not really enjoying himself.”

The different vibe in Vancouver comes in part from spending more time around his younger teammates. At the last Olympics, Miller stayed in his own RV, away from the rest of the Americans. At these Olympics, he’s living in a condo with everyone else, eating with everyone else, training with everyone else, feeding off the energy of everyone else.

“He’s been really motivated,” said Ted Ligety, the surprise 2006 Turin gold medalist who was fifth Sunday. “It’s cool to really see him win an Olympic gold. That’s what’s been missing from his resume.”

Miller got a late start to training before the World Cup season, and when he worked hard to get going, he hurt his left knee and needed arthroscopic surgery in October to clean it out. Another setback came in December, when Miller injured his right ankle playing volleyball, of all things. On top of that, he took a bad tumble in slalom training at Whistler, flying and landing on his left hip.

In the downhill that opened the super-combined, Miller was only seventh-fastest. He knew he had to make up time in the slalom, and it didn’t help that he was hurting and felt exhausted, even if he did begin his career as a slalom specialist.

Miller increased his lead at both checkpoints in the slalom, but after skiing fluidly at the top, he barely managed to get through one gate after another on a demanding course set by Kostelic’s father and coach, Ante.

“I was like, ‘God, get me to the finish.’ I knew I had a great run going, but I mean I don’t know how I got those last 15 gates,” Miller said. “It was literally just willpower, because my legs were completely shot.”

He moved into the lead, but had to wait while six other skiers who were faster in the downhill portion got their turns, including double medalist Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway.

“I couldn’t hold back,” Svindal said. “I had to attack it if I had any chance to get that gold.”

But when Svindal, who had the fastest morning downhill, skied off-course in the slalom, that gold medal was Miller’s.

As he walked away from the finish area, he stopped to sign autographs and pose for pictures to a chorus of “Bo-de! Bo-de!” He even knelt down to eye level to thank one girl for her support. Miller’s own daughter turned 2 this month, and while he won’t tell you fatherhood changed him as a person, he will say it made him reconsider his priorities.

On the slopes, he refuses to change his stance that medals are not what matters.

Miller did, indeed, make clear that he was happy to finally have a gold, but he also repeatedly made the point he’s long espoused: The reward he finds most satisfying is a great trip down the mountain.

“It’s hard to really describe in a way that makes sense, but the actual gold medal doesn’t mean that much. If I’d won it in a way that I wasn’t excited about or proud of today, I would have probably resented the medal in a certain way because of what it makes everyone else think,” Miller said.

A few minutes later, he said: “People are generally not good at separating those two things. They think you’re proud because you won an Olympic medal, and the reality is I’m proud because I skied that way at the Olympics.”

With that, he walked away from the race site, heading to the official ceremony in the nearby village to collect his latest medal. Gold, at last.