 Poster: A snowHead
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Following JohnHill's post in another thread... (quick question John, how much do the likes of Leuzi, Noel and Alain actually earn? I'm not talking about benefits in kind here, just real hard cash to set them up for retirement at the end of their racing careers - if they make it through to their early 30s without serious injury)...
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| I'd love to wake up most mornings in the mountains, have my ski and fitness activities worked out for me |
Hmm, I wonder!
Racers today don't just drop out of the sky into their 4WD Audis and cruise around the mountains all year (when they're not having massages)!
Anyway, I thought I'd try to give a quick glimpse of how the ski racing world might appear, from a slightly different angle..........................
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The pressure is on from year 7, 11 years old up, around the Alpine mountains, particularly for those who've managed to get into the ski study sections of secondary schools. Every weekend through the winter season, six out of seven days through every October half-term, Christmas, Spring and Easter holiday, plus a couple of days during the school week budding ski racers are on the mountain in all weathers. Peak holiday periods, crowded slopes, poor snow - training cancelled? Sorry son - it's a 6 am alarm call for you virtually every day through the 'holidays' - 2 hours gate training from 7am before the slopes open to the public. Blizzard, -20°C? Tough, get on with it. Late night, you actually went to bed at 9pm when 'normal kids' do for once? Your problem - not an option for serious ski racers. Don't do it again, or there'll be trouble. 11 year old in big 40mph crash, bruises, cuts, but nothing actually broken? Pick yourself up off your @rse you sissy, and get on with it. After all no one else will, chances are they've already disappeared over the hill. Still, most have served their apprenticeships well before they reached ten years old. No one helped them put their skis back on after a fall then either, at least not since they reached the grand old age of 6 and could join the local ski racing club...
What luck, some say. Two days off from school each week, sometimes more, to go skiing while the non-skiers are plodding through the daily school routine. Oh hang on a minute, what's that? The racers actually have to do more academic work that the non-skiers? But how, when? Oh I see - at least a couple of hours homework every day, more at weekends, a ton during the holidays (no problem there, it's not as if they can ever actually go away anywhere for a holiday, after all).
Kids can't handle that? You're right. A lot can't. That's despite being preselected (not just skiing ability but mental and physical fortitude, above average academic ability). Take a look at an average year 9 ski study class here in Bourg, 10 girls, 10 boys; so far this season with two months to go there's one blown ACL, one broken wrist, one fractured tibia and a broken thumb. Still she can carry on racing, with one hand in plaster. Not to mention all the cuts and bruises, minor twists and strains. Par for the course. Two kids on the point of being kicked out - they can't handle the academic pressure. One boy already has been, a couple of weeks ago. Same story every year. The rest are just about hanging in there - but it's touch and go for some, especially the week boarders (7/8 out of 10 ski study pupils).
Still, at least there's the summer holiday, you say? Ah slight problem. No, there isn't, not much anyway. Because for a full month there's daily training, alternating one day on the glacier, one day circuit training/running/cycling etc for four weeks solid. The glacier's only skiable in the morning, so that means a 5.30 am alarm call every other day for a month in July. Rendez-vous at the funicular at Tignes at 7.15am, come rain or shine. (8am start on dry training days).
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Anyway, that's enough about the easy part! The real hard work starts from year 10 up. More training and races, tougher regimes, stricter dietary controls, far more pressure in races... because if you don't get the results in the regional and national races this season, then you're out on your ear. A many as 15 important races over the winter, some regional, some hundreds of miles away.
It's Sunday morning, race day, fourteen year old 'Sam' crawls out of bed at half 3. Went to bed at 8 last night, missed his favourite programme, still couldn't get off to sleep before 10. Picked up at 4.30 for a long ride in the minibus to some unfamiliar resort, bibs at 8, course inspection from 8.30am. White-out, blowing a gale, rain below 2000m. Good job it's a slalom, might have gone all that way only for it to be cancelled. Sam checks the list - he's drawn bib 111 for the first run. Fan-bl**dy-tastic, in these conditions. That means he'll be racing down a miniature version of the Grand Canyon  .
A few warm-up runs to try to get up to the start not too long before his run. As usual it's running late. A couple of broken poles, and now the timing equipment's on the blink. The racer's nightmare - you actually managed to put in the perfect run - and your time's not registered. Tough luck, get yourself back up to the start, while another 20 racers are digging ever greater ruts in the course, and do it again. You crash out? Tough.
So Sam has to wait while they catch up with the backlog. He's damp and cold - ski jacket and shorts over a catsuit, but they offer little protection against the gusting wind and drizzle in the exposed start area - not a tent, toilet or mountain cafe in sight. Finally there are ten racers to go, so off with the jacket. Mounting apprehension - out of the last 20 starters, 12 have DNF'd. He's now soaked to the skin. The coach finally has a few seconds for him, encouraging him to warm up a little more vigorously, some last minute advice on the way the course has been set. The warm-up makes little difference. Still, the adrenalin takes over now, the fear kicks in. He's away...
It's a blur. The search for the perfect line, accelerating into and through each gate, all those years of training and hard work with the goal of producing some sort of strange 'automaton with feel' hybrid, doing their job...
... Out of the verticale just before the top of the second steep section, fifteen gates to go, then... Sam's a fraction late into the next blue. By now he's really motoring. The so far perfect run ends in a split second, as he's spat out of the 18 inch deep ruts, lands on the back of his head, slides some 50 metres down the icy hill, taking out a few gates on the way. Trying to keep his skis in the air until he's slowed enough, of course they haven't released with the DIN ratcheted up to prevent just that from happening during a clumsy but manageable turn in the race proper...
A gate judge slides over. "Alright?" Yeah, sort of. Knee hurts a bit, head's really sore. "Can you get down?" Think so. No sign of the coach, of course, he's still up at the start looking after the last of his charges in the group of eight from the club. So it's a disconsolate and uncomfortable slide back to the finish area. He's not alone ( there are already 58 DNFs, and still 30 more racers to come in this first run). For once some volunteers have laid on hot chocolate and cake at the bottom. More often than not there's nothing. Good job today - his jacket's still up at the start, he's got a thin catsuit on and nothing else, and now it's really chucking it down with rain. It's 10.45am. The second run's not programmed until 12.30, and it'll probably be late. Race over, prizegiving by 3, with a bit... a lot of luck. A two and a half hour's damp drive back in the minibus with a morose coach, 5 out of 8 DNF'd, 'star' racer Sam has a trip to the doc's in the morning to check out his knee (more schoolwork to catch up on first), 3 put in average performances, finishing halfway down the field. The coach was NOT in a good mood - Sam had DNF'd in his last three major races - so Sam gets a bollocking about his attitude on race days for good measure. "What's the point of producing fantastic times in training if you can't do it when it matters?"
Sports psychologists? In your dreams!
Sunday? Over before it started. Back home at 7pm, cold, knackered and hungry. If the doc declares him fit - instruction to be at 8am on the dot in his waiting room - then it's a quick dash to get to the slopes before he misses too much of Monday's training...... Forecast for tomorrow? More of the same....
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chapter 2, from the first year of FIS racing, year 11... watch this space...
Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Wed 1-03-06 10:29; edited 5 times in total
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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PG, nice post. Please keep it going.
I'd still have been aching to do it if I'd been born in the hills.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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PG, interesting stuff, although I'm not sure what your point is (I'm assuming that you haven't posted purely for educational purposes).
I have doubts about the morality of putting kids (or allowing kids to put themselves) through that sort of regime. Is the game worth the candle (bizarre expression), and who decides whether or not it is?
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richmond, I doubt if you could force a kid through that regime if they didnt want to do it. Does sound fairly horrendous for all concerned.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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richmond, up to the parents I would have thought, hopefully taking into account the child's view and their individual character. Obviously some are going to push things too far in the vicarious pursuit of success. My youngest is multi-talented at sport (as well as much else - proud dad  ), but I must say I was pleased when she said she would rather compete for fun in three sports (skiing, equestrianism and hockey) than jump through the hoops required to compete at a serious level in any one. If she'd have answered differently, I would have backed her, because she is a very determined person who knows her own mind.
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richmond, most people only get to see/criticise the 'finished product', as he/she appears on the box, or as the media decide to portray him/her in putting together an article that's a 'good read'. The above is just a taster from early ski career days. by the time it gets to jnuior level, another 90% of those that have successfully negotiated the above will drop by the way side, through injury, 'failure', or because they are simply exhausted by the constant pressure. But that's the next chapter...
The point? Just another perspective. When you see a racer on the box, that's what he's gone through, and more, these days.
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PG, I can totally relate to your post. Having gone through a similar regime that you describe as a teenager (for a different sport) I can say that this whole experience and self discipline made me the person I am today. It was tough at times especially when I was not able to do things other teenagers could but it was well worth it. I was even prevented from going on the school ski trip in case of injury and it would have interfered with my training and studies!
Having reached the top in my chosen sport I watch the top racers with total admiration and an understanding of what they have been through to get there.
And I can honestly say I would do it all again tomorrow.... 
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PG,
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how much do the likes of Leuzi, Noel and Alain actually earn?
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I really, really, really don't care. Hey, no one is forcing them into this labour. If it's a mortgage, retirement plan and 2 weeks in the sun every august they're after they should quit now and change direction. How about a day in the life of a trauma nurse, an aide worker in Angola, a squaddie in Iraq. There are loads of really tough jobs out there but Baxter's, by comparison to most, is an absolute dream. I assume that Chemmy has an equally "tough" regime yet, when interviewed, we get a sunny disposition and many positive vibes... even from her hospital slab last year.
Thanks for the glimpse at life behind the scenes... I lost the will to live about a third of the way through. You paint a picture of the life of a young ski racer that social services should be interested in... but not me. I think you've over-egged that particular pudding but, again, if they aren't enjoying it they are free to go do something else.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| Quote: |
How about a day in the life of a trauma nurse, an aide worker in Angola, a squaddie in Iraq
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None of them kids though. Trauma nurse a bad job?
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| Frosty the Snowman wrote: |
| richmond, I doubt if you could force a kid through that regime if they didnt want to do it. Does sound fairly horrendous for all concerned. |
It certainly does. You're probably right, although I'm not sure that that makes it OK. Tricky. I guess that the good parents/coaches will 'know' whether or not it's right for the kid; shame for the kids with bad parents/coaches.
I'm looking forward to episode 2.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| Quote: |
| I lost the will to live about a third of the way through |
Please don't do it, John. It's not only funeral directors who find you a laugh.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Frosty the Snowman,
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Trauma nurse a bad job?
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No, didn't say any of 'em were bad... it's a good meaningful job but a tough job. If it was a bad job, like toilet attendant in Arc 1800 at the moment, then intelligent people like that would move on.
David Goldsmith, just getting the noose ready for episode 2 at the moment.
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I'd love to wake up most mornings and look forward to sitting in the office reading Snowheads all day.
There is absolutely no excuse for dreary, downbeat, "it's so tough" posts. Diddums. GET OVER IT, GET REAL JohnHill
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You know it makes sense.
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There's nothing unreal about JohnHill, apart from the false name.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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David Goldsmith, and the false eye lashes.
Arno, Actually, I'd just love to wake up some mornings.
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Poster: A snowHead
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JohnHill, I assume you are a script-writer for the tory party .. because you seem committed to 'naying' any positive move by anyone else without having any positive contribution yourself. Please understand I am playing the ball, not the man - your fault if you left it between your legs.
Others This is not an easy sport to excel at . The monetary rewards are not great . To draw comparitives with UK 'team' sports I find it difficult to understand how folks 'dismiss' our winter sportsmen as money-grabbers, some are obviously 'well-heeled' - thank goodness for them as they have to deal with an archaic 'qualification' system .
And for what ? As an 'amateur-sportperson' I earned more money from my Saturday 'fun' from age 18 to 24 than I did from anywhere else (including gainful employment) ... and I've never played soccer nor sport at its highest level.
Why is it if we love the game/sport ( read- all winter sports) we choose to ridicule the people who choose to compete at it as they work their way up what is obviously a dodgy ladder?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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eEvans, said by someone who had a backhanded snipe at how Chemmy may have got her Witan sponsorship. Have you actually read any of your posts?
PG, it's just loosely slung around the neck at the mo in anticipation of more tales of hardship on the slopes.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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I originally explained, when asked the 'point' of the post, that it was to give people an insight into the early years of an winter sports athlete in the modern sports era. It described, as accurately as I am able, the kind of commitment and character needed from the outset to have a glimmer of a chance of getting anywhere near elite level. It's not easy for most people to put themselves in the Langes of a budding ski racer.
JohnHill, I'm curious. Is there something intrinsically distasteful to you about my sharing of an insight into the formative years of dedicated, modern era athletes in a demanding, dangerous and particularly unrewarding (financially) sport? Some special reason that compels you to be scathing and belittle their efforts and commitment? After all, I was just telling a story - providing information to this forum - with no value judgments.
Do you believe that other life choices are qualitatively superior in some way, and if so, why?
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| Thanks for the glimpse at life behind the scenes... I lost the will to live about a third of the way through. You paint a picture of the life of a young ski racer that social services should be interested in... but not me. I think you've over-egged that particular pudding but, again, if they aren't enjoying it they are free to go do something else. |
"Over-egging the pudding"? You're out of touch then! As I understand it, in France the regime is relatively mild - we've a way to go to catch up with the Austrians. Sport is a success-powered production line these days, with commercial interests in the driving seat. Those who thinks otherwise are in my view deluding themselves.
The facts - in the case of the ski academy and others in France with which I am familiar - are exactly as described.
Who said those that stick with it don't enjoy it? Not me.
Last edited by You need to Login to know who's really who. on Wed 1-03-06 22:38; edited 2 times in total
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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It seems that there is a very big gap between those that reach the pinnacle of the sport and all the others, in terms of prize-money, sponsrships, etc . The IR official retirement age for downhill skiers is 30 years of age for the purposes of approval of pension drawdowns ( footballers is 35 incidentially ). Most people are just getting into the swing of their careers at that point, let alone retiing!.
So unless a skier has raeched the pinnacle of their career and put aside enough to sustain them in their long retirement then I would question whether it is a suitable career. Obviously if a child is very talented then that talent should be encouraged. But there may be parents that overtly push their kids too far and this is the problem. Advise given to prospective actors is " do not give up the day job " until a level of success can be achieved.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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| JohnHill wrote: |
| eEvans, said by someone who had a backhanded snipe at how Chemmy may have got her Witan sponsorship. Have you actually read any of your posts? |
Yes I am responsible for my own posts .. I don't bother to read them, most are 'heart ' not head. I 'hope' I am occasionally positive/constructive though . As regards Witan/Chemmy - it is/was not a 'back-handed swipe' , it was a genuine question that no-one has , as yet, answered. I am a Witan investor and have asked the same/similar question of the IT - and not received an answer. R U an investor or someone with a vested interest or just someone who knocks others ?
Last edited by You'll need to Register first of course. on Wed 1-03-06 23:26; edited 1 time in total
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PG - 6am alarm call.... I know swimmers who would call that a sleep in!
Check out how early a world class swimmer has been hitting the water and from what age....
and by 14 they are often getting close to international competition....
14 year old female gymnast - she is nearly over the hill! you should see what they do to tiny little ones in the name of sporting success....
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PG,
A very interseting post indeed, a tough school indeed for the children - and the parents by the sound of it
It is a very difficult balance to strike between when to encourage on the 'off' days and to recognise genuine disenchantment. Two of my children swim competitively, and if it was up to me I'd leave them skive most training sessions, but fortunately my swimHead wife gets them to put in the hours.
Slightly OT but did anyone see this astounding story of pushy parents taken to the extreme?
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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PG, great post, always good to get your insights into life from the resort as well as the world of the young alpine racer. It's indeed a hard regime and so it has to be as so many seem to want to do it. The level of competition today in any sport is such that without almost superhuman commitment there is no hope of reaching the top. Even when blessed with exceptional intrinsic talent, without putting in this effort, one would be surpassed by lesser individuals with more experience and training. The question begged is do the many who have gone the length of this path but not reached the upper echelons of the world cup feel their journey to have been worthwhile? What would have been their reward? And at what cost to their long-term health? I do sometimes wonder if the pursuit of ultimate performance no matter the cost, typical of all commercial sports today, is really suprahuman and therefore not actually desirable. 
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slikedges, yes this a major problem. One that worries not only the parents involved, but also those clubs that try to retain an element of non-elitist appeal in the local community. They are under pressure from various sources to streamline, to select 'talent' at an ever younger age, in order to concentrate resources on these kids. It's a losing battle - at the Les Arcs club we regularly discuss this - but on the one hand sponsorship represents an ever-growing percentage of overall income, and on the other the squeeze is on in terms of local/regional subsidies. Plus the governing ski body, and its regional antennae, are keen to see us move towards the Austrian model, as the production line there produces results (although some suggest it's "at all costs").
The health aspect is a constant and growing concern. It's barely manageable by parents really, and then only up until a certain age. Luck is needed, faith in the training and trainers and their ability to 'know' the trainees limits and needs. In the early years, there's some control possible through ensuring extra hours of sleep, good diet, regular visits to the sports doc, plus you can help accelerate recovery time through the likes of massage, etc. But sooner or later it's down to the kids - from 16 up, if they've survived through to the elite competition system, it's virtually out of your hands.
You can't help feeling that it's spiraling out of control somehow. The same trend is resulting in the pressure on athletes to take performance-enhancing drugs. We haven't seen the last of the scandals in that area.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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I've read several of the posts a few times now (mainly PG's). My feeling is that it is a shame that in order to have even an outside chance of competing at the top level people (and their families) have to go through this. I'm not trying to be judgemental, but I wonder if anything which requires this sort of lifestyle is still sport.
Did top sportspeople always have to subject themselves to this? One has the impression that 50 (or fewer) years ago, they just turned up, put their kit on, performed as best they could and buggered off, back to the day job or down the pub. I'm sure that it wasn't like that, but did sport take over their lives so completely and from such an early age? If not, why does it now? I think that the answer will turn out to be $.
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richmond, I'm just in the process of finishing a brief intro to the system in Austria as it happens. The French have a kind of fatalistic, Gallic shrug attitude to the fact that they're being reluctantly swept along by the current. The response is always "What choice do we have"?
If you think the above is a ski racer assembly line, the French have nonetheless got a lot of lessons to learn from the Austrians who are a long way ahead in the 'productivity' race. You might as well compare British Leyland in the 70s with BMW today Infighting, poor quality of infrastructure, reluctance to move with the times, bankruptcy, the French system has had it all over the last decade. Disguised by breakthroughs from individual talents as a result of sheer weight of numbers maybe, but true all the same.
So now 'improvements' are in the pipeline. What does that entail? Increasing commercial involvement - the French Federation now has to take account of the views of its new partners. The clubs themselves are gradually losing influence with the likes of the lift companies, the resorts themselves, the ESF, 'investing' in the future of French ski racing. But what do these new partners expect in return? Exposure. Publicity. Of course only good results can achieve this.
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You know it makes sense.
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richmond, it's the result of a desire, and increased pressure, to win.
You need to give yourself the best chance possible, to look for an "edge" over your opponent. So you train harder, he trains harder, you train harder still etc, etc.
And it's not just at the top levels, all sports at all levels are seeing this increase in standards and fitness levels.
If you want to blame anyone, try the media and the armchair critics who mass behind it.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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The systems obviously turn out people who peform better than ever. I'm not looking to blame anyone, just curious about the reasons for the change, if indeed there's been one (which I'm sure there has).
I can see that the media play a part, not so convinced about the armchair critics, 'though. What clout do they have, and speaking as an armchair critic myself, I don't want people to train like that. I don't care whether they do it in 471.68s or 41.47s; it's the competition I enjoy.
I reckon it's the pressure to make the big bucks and, of course, the fact as we approach the limits of human's ability to ski/run/jump/sail, whatever, the next 0.01s off is a is a lot harder to achieve than the previous one.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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richmond, as I've already alluded to, in the days of amateur sport the effort one could go to was limited by the necessity (in most cases) to maintain a life balance outside of the sport which not only quite naturally imposed a financial, professional and social limit to the commitment made, but also gave it a perspective which I suspect is often too easily lost to sportspeople today.
marc gledhill, yes, that's my point exactly, being trapped in a cycle of increasingly suprahuman training, almost competing in who can do more training, in order to stay in the game. Imho probably not good for anyone having to participate.
However, I don't think it is largely the media or armchair critics but the sportsmen/women themselves. They're the ones striving for the goal whether that be the glory or the money. It's just that so many want to do it, and any normally coordinated person can have a shot at it and improve hugely with training and experience to reach quite highly competitive levels, and so have developed the self-belief to keep going. That just a few have the talent to reach the very highest levels is the sad fact most have to face only when everyone in the field (both talented and hacker) has been through this mill of supreme effort and those who can't cut it, well, find out they can't cut it. It was spiritually purer when noone really trained that much and the gifted won their victories on the strength of their talent.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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ummm - but didn't they send the herminator home because he was too small/weak?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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ummm yep
Career
Maier did not initially enjoy much success in skiing. As a 15-year old at the Schladming ski academy, he was sent home after being told he wouldn't make it because of his slight build caused by growth impairments. He returned home to his father's ski school in Flachau, which is still Maier's hometown. He took up work as a bricklayer in the summer and a ski instructor in the winter.
Participating in local races, Maier became a multiple regional champion in Salzburg and Tyrol, but still was not able to gain a spot in the strong Austrian World Cup skiing team. Putting that behind him, his outstanding talent was recognized for the first time by Austrian coaches in 1996, when he was timed with the 12th fastest time in a World Cup giant slalom in Flachau, although only starting as a forerunner and not participating in the actual competition. This would become the starting point of his international career. In 1997 he won his first World Cup event - a super-G race in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. He quickly established himself as an explosive and dynamic skier, well known for his strength, his willingness to take risks and the endless effort he put into his training sessions.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_Maier
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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He won races as a youngster, went through the system as far as the national academy, but then couldn't hack it in races because he was too slight. So the system was certainly responsible for him to an extent. He then worked on his weight and strength until he forced himself back into the national team reckoning.
He therefore went through the skihauptschule and year one of the national academy programme. In my view he epitomises the winning mentality bred into the athletes from their earliest formative years within the ski academy system...
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from 15-24(9 years) he was not allowed to ski/train with them... at least that is my count as it was 1996 when he got the 12th as a forerunner... and he was born in 1972....
I agree about the winning mentality.. but think it is more about the whole thing of how austrians see skiing rather than JUST the academies etc...
their instructors (at least the ones I have skied with) have the same attitude.... they expect to perform well and to work damn hard to be able to do so.... it is a profession - not something they do for a year or 3 so they can ski more!
They see nothing unusual in spending years perfecting movements - they do it... in a similar vein to the old french fencing schools - you know the spend a year on footwork before you even think about getting a sword type of thing.... No fast fix learn to ski today sort of thing.... I have never met an austrian who said they had been skiing for 12 months and only skied off-piste for instance! Or boasted they had never had a ski lesson they just did it! Now australians, americans, british ..... very different idea of skiing....
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PG. Just a point concerning your intro ...
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It was triple French gold medallist in the 1992 Olympic Games Jean-Claude Killy who summed up the Austrian attitude to skiing:
"They live skiing, they breathe skiing, they are skiing. Eight million Austrians, six million skiers. It's a tradition, part of everyone's roots. In France, if we produce a champion, it's an accident - while in Austria it's the natural result of a national system geared to that end ... |
Killy won his three gold medals in 1968 in Grenoble. In 1992 he was co-president of the organising committee for the Albertville Games.
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He went throught the skihauptschule system, and the first year of the national academy. He began racing again in his late teens, working in his father's ski school in the interim winters. Skiing is the no 1 sport in Austria. All of that is in the article, and the intensive training he will have received between 10 and 15 years old will have contributed greatly to both his technical progress as well as to the development of a winning mentality. Competition is extremely fierce for places in these schools.
There is nothing strictly 'Austrian' that results in them taking home so many medals in skiing. It is the product of sheer numbers combined with investment in people and race training structures, a training schedule that is more intensive than the equivalent elsewhere. Obviously that applies to senior level as well as junior.
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No - not being "austrian" but the austrian view of skiing.... of how you learn to do it or learn to teach it.... they don't expect to become a ski instructor in a holiday.... nor to ski off-piste after a lesson or three.... it is simply not part of their culture as it is in countries such as australia, america and britain.... they seem to understand that skiing is something you work at if you want to be good.... otherwise they view it as relaxed and enjoyable but say you want to learn and the bugs are FULL ON... I don't know anyone else that does laps and laps of fast edge rolls to improve foot speed! (Liek a DAY of fast edge rolls!  and yes I know people who did it and do it) Ditto the damn pole drills we always laugh at them for.... they really expect that somebody will ski around doing them for hours on end - because THEY would and DO and HAVE....
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Yes. The Austrian approach to skiing, drilled into them from their first race skiing club as a toddler up, supported by an entire nation and its skiing industry, with a network of exclusive ski academies geared entirely to produce elite racers at all costs, managed by a cash-rich federation, was the whole point of the original article!
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