Hermann Maier

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Olympic medalist
Center
Hermann Maier
Medal record
Men's Alpine skiing
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 2003 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.

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.
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 fourth-best alpine-skier of all time behind Ingemar Stenmark, Annemarie Moser-Pröll and Vreni Schneider.

World Cup victories

Overall

Season Discipline
2004 Overall
2004 Super-G
2001 Overall
2001 Downhill
2001 Super-G
2001 Giant Slalom
2000 Overall
2000 Downhill
2000 Super-G
2000 Giant Slalom
1999 Super-G
1998 Overall
1998 Super-G
1998 Giant Slalom

Individual victories

Downhill

Date Location
29 December 1997 Flag of Italy Bormio
16 January 1998 Flag of Switzerland Wengen
29 December 1998 Flag of Italy Bormio
27 November 1999 Flag of United States Beaver Creek
8 January 2000 Flag of France Chamonix
29 January 2000 Flag of Germany Garmisch-Partenkirchen
2 December 2000 Flag of United States Beaver Creek
9 December 2000 Flag of France Val d'Isère
20 January 2001 Flag of Austria Kitzbühel
2 March 2001 Flag of Norway Kvitfjell
8 March 2001 Flag of Sweden Åre
6 December 2003 Flag of United States Beaver Creek
14 February 2004 Flag of Austria St. Anton am Arlberg
5 March 2005 Flag of Norway Kvitfjell
28 January 2006 Flag of Germany Garmisch-Partenkirchen

Giant slalom

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

Super-G

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

Combined

Date Location
18 January 1998 Flag of Switzerland Wengen/ Veysonnaz

Besides skiing

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

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