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Yhoshi
 Post subject: Wintersport
PostPosted: Tue Oct 13, 2009 12:29 pm 
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Location: Austria
HERMANN MAIER retires!!!!!!!!!

Quote:
Skiing legend Hermann Maier retires
Last Updated: Tuesday, October 13, 2009 | 12:11 PM ET Comments4Recommend13CBC Sports
Austrian skier Hermann Maier wipes away tears at Tuesday's news conference in Vienna. (Ronald Zak/Associated Press)Austrian skiing legend Hermann Maier announced his retirement on Tuesday after a career filled with four Olympic medals, four overall World Cup titles and one of the greatest comebacks in sports history.

Maier, 36, said in Vienna he was no longer up for the physical rigors of the sport.

"I have decided to bring to an end my career as a competitive skier," he said at a news conference. "After a lot of thought, the decision just made itself spontaneously."

The last of Maier's 54 World Cup tour victories came in Lake Louise, Alta., nearly one year ago.

Maier by the numbers
54 World Cup wins (24 super-G, 15 downhill, 14 giant slalom, 1 combined)

10 World Cup discipline titles

6 World champ. medals (3-2-1)

4 Olympic medals (2-1-1)

4 overall World Cup titles
“I just wanted to win again on the World Cup and I’m so happy that it came in this place and on this day," he told Scott Russell of CBC Sports.

He was targeting a return to Lake Louise after suffering a knee injury late last season that required surgery.

"I am healthy now and that's the way I want to live on," said Maier, while fighting back tears at the news conference on Tuesday.

Maier nearly lost that battle when he was sideswiped while riding his motorcycle near Salzburg on Aug. 24, 2001.

Titanium rod implant
Doctors at one point feared part of his right leg might need to be amputated, and he required seven hours of surgery. In the end, he endured multiple skin grafts from his arm to his leg and had surgery to implant a titanium rod in his right leg.

Maier's progress in coming back surprised even himself. He suffered a minor setback in November 2002 but was racing just two months later.

On Jan. 27, 2003, in Kitzbuhel, he completed the comeback with a super-G victory.

"I never thought I would win again so quickly," he said at the time. "I'm over the moon. I am totally moved.

"It's one of my best victories. It's definitely on par with the Olympics and world championships."

Maier was once considered not good enough for a ski academy as a teen and later worked as a bricklayer.

He made his World Cup debut in 1996 at the relatively advanced age of 23, and captured his victory on the circuit the following year.

Maier was dominant in the 1997-98 season — with one very notable exception.

Epic crash
He finished first in the overall, super-G and giant slalom points standings, and second in the downhill.

At the Nagano Olympics, Maier cemented his legend. He went airborne in the downhill, landing on his head and shoulders, flipping over and then somersaulting through two safety nets.

'No Lufthansa, but OK'
—Maier after his Nagano downill crashHe walked away from the epic crash and by the next week had won gold in the giant slalom and super-G.

Asked to describe how the crash felt later the same day, he said,"[It was] no Lufthansa, but OK."

Maier proved his Kitzbuhel victory less than two years after the motorcycle accident was no fluke by winning 14 more races on the World Cup circuit.

In 2003-04, he won the overall and super-G World Cup titles.

At the 2006 Torino Olympics, he captured silver in the super-G and bronze in the giant slalom. He finished sixth in the downhill.

Maier's total of World Cup wins is only surpassed by Swedish legend Ingemar Stenmark, who won 86 times.
www.cbc.ca


simply the best!

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