You only have one shot every four years and you’re representing your whole country, not just yourself. “The pressure is enormous once you’re up in the starting gate. “If you’re not the favorite and have a really good day it changes your life but if you win it as a favorite it’s even more fun,” says Klammer, whose strength and fitness came from working as lumberjack to pay for skiing in his youth, running uphill and downhill to get to and from work. The 22-year-old former farm boy went to his home Games with the expectation of a nation on his shoulders. He had beaten defending champion Bernhard Russi of Switzerland in the Olympic test event on the Patscherkofel course and was a 13-time World Cup downhill winner, including five wins at the start of 1976. Klammer dominated the downhill scene in the year leading up to the Innsbruck Olympics. READ: Why Arnold Schwarzenegger is transfixed by Kitzbuhel But for a skier, without the Olympic gold medal you are a good skier but not a great skier. “It requires everything – guts, making tight turns, long turns, gliding sections, jumping. “Skiing wise the most important victory is Kitzbuhel for a downhiller because in my opinion it’s the most complete downhill,” Klammer, 64, told CNN Sport. His electrifying run to clinch the 1976 Olympic downhill title, under intense pressure as hot favorite, transformed him from national hero to global superstar. The Austrian, known as “The Kaiser,” is arguably the most famous ski racer of them all. Klammer, American Tommy Moe and Switzerland’s Didier Defago tell CNN Sport the tale of their gold medal and the impact achieving the Olympic dream had on their lives. No one has ever defended the title either, although Norway’s Lasse Kjus and Switzerland’s Peter Muller have scored back-to-back silvers.Īnd some big names have never won the Olympic downhill gold, such as Austria’s Hermann Maier and Swiss Didier Cuche, the record five-time Kitzbuhel champion. A handful of recent Olympic champions have clinched gold without a single win on the World Cup circuit. Since Austrian great Franz Klammer’s famous win in 1976, only Swiss Pirmin Zurbriggen (1988) has won downhill gold as favorite. A lot of elements – mood, form, luck, equipment, track condition, weather – have to align on the day. It’s often viewed as the banner event of the Winter Olympics, and the epitome of daring downhill sports.īut just how important is the men’s Olympic downhill gold medal in the career of alpine skiers?Īfter all, the Olympic downhill competition is a one-shot wonder, one two-minute run on a different track every four years.

Franz klammer olympic downhill run