Hermann Maier

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Men's Alpine Skiing
Olympic medalist
Hermann Maier
Medal record
Gold	1998 Nagano	Giant slalom
Gold	1998 Nagano	Super-G
Silver	2006 Turin	Super-G
Bronze	2006 Turin	Giant Slalom
World Championships
Gold	1999 Vail	Downhill
Gold	1999 Vail	Super-G
Gold	2005 Bormio	Giant Slalom
Silver	2001 St. Anton	Downhill
Silver	2001 St. Moritz	Super-G
Bronze	2001 St. Anton	Super-G

Hermann Maier (born December 7, 1972, Altenmarkt) is an Austrian skier who has won four overall World Cup titles (1998, 2000, 2001, 2004), two Olympic gold medals (both in 1998), three World Championship titles (1999: 2, 2005: 1) and 53 races in the World Cup. He ranks among the likes of Jean-Claude Killy, Ingemar Stenmark, Toni Sailer, Alberto Tomba, Kjetil André Aamodt and Franz Klammer as one of the best exponents of the sport.

1 Career
2 Results
3 Besides skiing
4 External links

[edit] 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.

Since then he has dominated the sport, winning the gold medal in the giant-slalom and super-G at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano only a few days after a dramatic crash in the downhill race, which put him on the cover of the American sports magazine Sports Illustrated and made him a well known sportsman around the globe. In the same year he won the super-G World Cup and the overall World Cup. He went on to the win the overall World Cup in 2000 and 2001.

Maier at "Day of Sports" Festival Vienna 2006.

His career seemed over after a near-fatal motorbike accident in August 2001, colliding with a car on his way home from a summer practice session. Doctors were close to amputating his leg, but instead Maier underwent massive reconstructive surgery. Many thought his career was over, and he had to sit out the 2001-2002 and 2002-2003 seasons and missed the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

However, Maier returned to the World Cup in January 2003 in Adelboden, Switzerland. He shocked the skiing world with an amazing super-G victory in the skiing-mecca of Kitzbühel, Austria only two weeks later. 2003-2004, in his first full season back, he won the super-G World Cup and the overall competition for the fourth time in his career, a feat widely seen as one of the greatest comebacks in sports history. In 2004 Hermann Maier received the Laureus World Sports Award for the "Comeback of the Year".

Reflecting his apparently indestructible nature, he is sometimes jocularly known as "The Herminator". After his Olympic gold medals in Nagano he also appeared on Jay Leno's Tonight Show on NBC - together with Austrian-born actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is known worldwide as "The Terminator".

In 2004, Maier wrote an autobiography with his friend and former publicity agent, Knut Okresek. The German language book, Hermann Maier: Das Rennen Meines Lebens, dealt mainly with his stunning recovery from the 2001 motorcycle accident. In 2005, VeloPress, a Boulder, Colorado based publisher affiliated with Ski Racing magazine, acquired the worldwide English language rights to the book, which was published in time for the 2006 Olympics in Turin, Italy, as Hermann Maier: The Race of My Life.

In October 2005, winning the giant slalom in Sölden, he reached 51 victories in the World Cup, which makes him the second-best skier of all time behind Ingemar Stenmark.

[edit] Results

[edit] World Cup (overall)

1995-1996: 106th
1996-1997: 21st
1997-1998: 1st
1998-1999: 3rd
1999-2000: 1st
2000-2001: 1st
2001-2002: did not participate
2002-2003: 45th (did only participate in five races)
2003-2004: 1st
2004-2005: 3rd
2005-2006: 6th

[edit] Olympic

1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan
- Giant Slalom 1st
- Super-G 1st
2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy
- Super-G 2nd
- Giant Slalom 3rd

[edit] World Championships

1999 in Vail, USA
- Downhill 1st
- Super-G 1st

2001 in St. Anton, Austria
- Downhill 2nd
- Giant Slalom 4th
- Super-G 3rd

2003 in St. Moritz, Switzerland
- Downhill 8th
- Super-G 2nd

2005 in Bormio, Italy
- Giant Slalom 1st

[edit] World Cup victories

[edit] Downhill

Date	Location
29 December 1997	Bormio
16 January 1998	Wengen
29 December 1998	Bormio
27 November 1999	Beaver Creek
8. Jänner 2000	Chamonix
29. Jänner 2000	Garmisch-Partenkirchen
2 December 2000	Beaver Creek
9 December 2000	Val d'Isère
20 January 2001	Kitzbühel
2 March 2001	Kvitfjell
8 March 2001	Åre
6 December 2003	Beaver Creek
14 February 2004	St. Anton am Arlberg
5 March 2005	Kvitfjell
28 January 2006	Garmisch-Partenkirchen

[edit] Giant Slalom

Date	Location
25 November 1997	Park City
6 January 1998	Saalbach-Hinterglemm
13 January 1998	Adelboden
25 October 1998	Sölden
12 January 1999	Adelboden
31 October 1999	Tignes
24 November 1999	Beaver Creek
5 February 2000	Todtnau
29 October 2000	Sölden
10 December 2000	Val d'Isère
9 January 2001	Adelboden
15 February 2001	Shigakogen
10 March 2001	Åre
23 October 2005	Sölden

[edit] Super-G

Date	Location
23 February 1997	Garmisch-Partenkirchen
6 December 1997	Beaver Creek
10 January 1998	Schladming
11 January 1998	Schladming
1 February 1998	Garmisch-Partenkirchen
13 December 1998	Val d'Isère
21 December 1998	Innsbruck
9 January 1999	Schladming
7 March 1999	Kvitfjell
28 November 1999	Vail
5 December 1999	Lake Louise
21 January 2000	Kitzbühel
16 March 2000	Bormio
26 November 2000	Lake Louise
19 January 2001	Kitzbühel
4 March 2001	Kvitfjell
27 January 2003	Kitzbühel
30 November 2003	Lake Louise
1 February 2004	Garmisch-Partenkirchen
11 March 2004	Sestrières
24 January 2005	Kitzbühel
6 March 2005	Kvitfjell
20 January 2006	Kitzbühel

[edit] Combined

Date	Location
18 January 1998	Wengen/Veysonnaz

[edit] Besides skiing

Hermann also won an all-around sports competition, the 2001 edition of the American Superstars competition.

[edit] External links

Preceded by Ronaldo	Laureus World Sports Award for Comeback of the Year 2004	Succeeded by Alessandro Zanardi

Olympic champions in men's Super-G
1988: Franck Piccard \| 1992: Kjetil André Aamodt \| 1994: Markus Wasmeier \| 1998: Hermann Maier \| 2002: Kjetil André Aamodt \|2006: Kjetil André Aamodt

Olympic champions in men's giant slalom
1952: Stein Eriksen \| 1956: Toni Sailer \| 1960: Roger Staub \| 1964: François Bonlieu \| 1968: Jean-Claude Killy \| 1972: Gustav Thöni \| 1976: Heini Hemmi \| 1980: Ingemar Stenmark \| 1984: Max Julen \| 1988: Alberto Tomba \| 1992: Alberto Tomba \| 1994: Markus Wasmeier \| 1998: Hermann Maier \| 2002: Stephan Eberharter \| 2006: Benjamin Raich

Men's Alpine skiing World Cup winners (overall)

World champions in men's giant slalom

World Champions in Men's Super-G
1985: Pirmin Zurbriggen \| 1987: Pirmin Zurbriggen \| 1989: Martin Hangl \| 1991: Stephan Eberharter \| 1993: Lasse Kjus \| 1996: Atle Skårdal \| 1997: Atle Skårdal \| 1999: Lasse Kjus and Hermann Maier \| 2001: Daron Rahlves \| 2003: Stephan Eberharter \| 2005: Bode Miller

World Champions in Men's Downhill

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