Team USA skiing maverick Bode Miller finished his final run in Vancouver in much the same way as he did the 2006 Olympics, throwing his hands up in defeat after missing a gate. His overall Olympic performance however, couldn’t be more different than it was in Turin, Italy.
Back in 2006, Miller was supposed to be America’s golden boy. He arrived at the games brandishing two silver medals from the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics and as the defending world champion. Miller’s face and the expectations were equally well known thanks to ubiquitous advertising campaigns and magazine covers. Like over-involved Little League parents, Uncle Sam demanded excellence: five medals, preferably all gold.
The skier responded like a rebellious boy. Miller skied five uninspired races and came up empty-handed in each one.
By the end of the games the running joke had become, “how will Bode screw this one up?” Despite the joking, Americans scratched their heads and pointed their fingers, not always the index finger, at what was supposed to be our national icon.
Everyone in the world was looking for an answer. Brainstorming turned into fire storming as the speculation about his performance spiraled out of control. Most notably, reports surfaced that Miller had been spotted out at bars prior to races in Turin. By then everyone knew that he skied drunk. The often outspoken skier admitted—in a highly publicized 60 Minutes interview—that his escapades had sometimes interfered with competition.
Bode Miller was like Bob Dylan on skis. Like the musician, he refused to be the poster boy, preferring to be the party boy instead. He blew off the media, hopping the out of bounds ropes and skiing alone to his RV in order to avoid the swarms of rabid reporters. Worst of all, he said he didn’t care about success or winning medals. Such a treasonous comment made him unworthy to wear the stars and stripes that he was supposed to be representing.
Not only that though, he showed no remorse. Bode skied the way Bode wanted to ski.
“Part of me didn’t even want to go to the Olympics in ‘06. Part of me wanted to go because I knew the possibilities of going,” Bode wrote on his Universal Sports blog. “But part of me didn’t want to because I didn’t like where the whole thing was pointed. I didn’t like being the poster boy, and I didn’t like a lot of the stuff that was surrounding it.”
Picking up the pieces—and the beer cans they tossed at their TV sets—Americans asked, “should we blame ourselves?” Maybe we had unrealistic expectations for the young star, as parents living vicariously through children sometimes do. Perhaps all those flash bulbs and spotlights burnt out budding Bode. By the conclusion of the 2006 games, the Olympic torch was extinguished and the general consensus was that Miller’s Olympic potential had too.
Four years later in Vancouver, the hype and hope rested on another American skier, Lindsey Vonn, and her ailing shin. Miller’s appearance on the hill was expected to be nothing more than an unpleasant reminder of what could have been four years earlier.
Miller had a modicum of success after Turin, winning the 2008 World Cup overall title. But there was more disappointment too. Leading up to the Olympics, Miller had the worst season of his career in 2009. Not only that, but he had a couple of injuries as well as a knee surgery. With all of the problems, Miller was expected to leave the sport.
Four years older, a little wiser and hopefully more responsible with a 2-year-old daughter at home, Miller returned to his prime. True to his unpredictable nature, the maverick Miller emerged to capture three medals, tying him for a United States record among Alpine skiers. He collected silver in the Super-G, bronze in the downhill and Olympic gold in the combined.
Miller rekindled the Olympic spirit and renewed the nation’s love affair with the misunderstood star.
“The energy I felt during that race,” Miller wrote on his Universal Sports blog “that’s what the Olympics are about.”
Let confetti flow, holler in the streets and slaughter the fatted calf. The prodigal son has returned and it’s time to celebrate.
Congratulations Miller, you have completed the transformation from goat to hero. You now stand on top of the podium and in our hearts, as a decorated American Olympian.
So go ahead Bode, you can now have a beer. You deserve one.
You can reach this writer at sports@theeagleonline.com.
