Bill Johnson was a US Olympic downhill skier--back in the 80's, I think. He skied always on the edge, but did manage to come away with a gold medal. No where near as big of a mouth as Bode Miller, though.
Raised in Oregon, Johnson was a troubled youth who began competitive skiing as a means of harnessing his energy. In 1984, at age 23, Johnson challenged the long-established European domination of downhill ski racing.
His victory on January 15, 1984 on the storied Lauberhorn course at Wengen, Switzerland was the first for an American male in World Cup downhill competition.
A month later at the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, the brash young American predicted victory, evoking comparisons to Joe Namath and Muhammad Ali and irking his European competitors.
His scary yet inspired gold-medal run down the Bjelesnica course in a time of 1:45.59 defeated legend Peter Müller of Switzerland by 0.27 seconds.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Johnson_%28skier%29