Fame is like a poison, says American skiing ace Miller

Breitbart.com ^ | February 16, 2006 | AFP

[Zechariah_8_13]

American skiing ace Bode Miller says he can understand while some athletes turn to drugs in their quest for fame.

Miller, who on Tuesday was disqualified from the Winter Olympics' alpine skiing combined event after a slalom slip-up, believes the pressure to succeed forces some competitors to cheat.

"Sport was born clean and would remain so if it was about just competing for the fun of it, but the media and the public corrupt it because of the pressure they create," the outspoken Miller told the Gazzetta dello Sport.

"Any athlete who isn't doing well is left in the corner, nobody asks for their autograph and they're left out in the cold. However, those who win things are regarded as symbols.

"Fame is like a poison. I don't care for it. I used to have a better life when I was nobody.

"This pressure is inhumane, born out of an athlete's need to be number one.

"Sport should be a pleasure, a challenge against one's self. Sport is an act of freedom. On the piste you can push your limits and that is the essence of life."

Miller, 28, flopped badly in Sunday's downhill and the combined was his chance to make amends.

But after topping the opening downhill leg of the event, the World Cup champion overcooked it on the first of the two slaloms. Despite reaching the finish line, he was later disqualified for his infraction.

Miller has three more opportunities to finally win a first Olympic gold to add to his downhill world championship crown, in the super-G, giant slalom and slalom.

[jrooz]

This guy projects the socialist, no loser, all winners attitude that irritates the heck out of me. Maybe if he took the Olympics a little more serious he would have succeeded in his first couple of races! Instead, he criticizes hard work and structure as bad things.

[Alberta's Child]

Interesting comments. I know Bode Miller won't win many popularity contests with Olympic observers this year, but his comments are not unprecedented.

I'm reading a great book right now about the legendary 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team, and many of the players from that team expressed these sentiments in one form or another over the years.

Mark Johnson, one of the star players on that team who went on to play in the NHL for nearly a decade, now coaches women's hockey at the University of Wisconsin. He refuses to coach men's hockey because women's hockey today is so similar to men's hockey from that era when he played -- when amateurs were amateurs and these college sports and Olympic events hadn't been "poisoned" so heavily by big television and corporate money as they are now.

[AntiGuv]

He's still got three chances to medal, but if his first two events are indicative all the beers are catching up with him. Then of course there's the 'redemption games' in 2010. Maybe he'll pull it together by then.

[Soul Seeker]

Ah, so despite the fact everyone faces temptations, atheletes are exempt from responsibility for giving in to the temptation Bode?

I didn't like him in 2002, and he's forced me to do something I've never really done before. Not root for the American in the Olympics. Of the little I have watched this year, I was actively rooting for him to fail. Ditto Wier.

I know I'm not the only one that has been happy Bode couldn't live up to his Big Mouth. The Big Mouth the media found so appealing when they thought he'd bring all these medals home.

[Mamzelle]

He does make the point that celebrity is a dangerous thing--and it's not just fame, it's that sensation of being celebrated. I've known a few third-string celebrities: too much attn turns one's head, and usually it stays turned. When the attn fades, the has-been starts pursuing anything that might get them that attention again, and they'll throw anything worthwhile away to get it.

[Tallguy]

Bode Miller is far more famous in Europe where skiing is a major sport. Being the World Cup Ski Champion is also a far bigger deal than winning a Gold Medal -- which is emblematic of winning a single race.

Bode is trying to have it both ways: one day b*tching about the accommodations at the athletes' dormitories (like it's going to compare to a 5-star hotel) & then complaining about the negativity of being famous.

[Rakkasan1]

rule of thumb: the dumber your name, the bigger you lose:
Bode, Peekaboo, and any US skier take note.

[all4one]

"He's still got three chances to medal.."

I wish him well in the next few events; but I have low expections that he will get his act together enough to do well. It seems that he has garnered the idea that "even bad publicity is a good way to get your name in the media". I abhor those in the public eye who disregard manners and gracious behavior. He is already 28...so by 2010 I would hope that there is a younger and more talented skiier who wins a spot on the U.S. ski team. I just love "The Flying Tomato", what a sweet guy who seems to be really enjoying the games and relishing his gold metal.

I will be in Killington on vacation soon....so I will be doing my own version of the middle-age Olympics against my husband, children and friends. BTW I love your "permanent ignore list".