Bode's Last Chance?

OK, so Bode Miller's last Olympic foray was a total "yard-sale," as skiers say. (For nonskiers: a crash so nasty that ALL the victim's gear--skis, poles, hat, gloves, goggles, and perhaps a tibia or two--ends up strewn across the hill.) At least from a PR standpoint it was. But it got him what he really wanted, in a way: For two years, the American press has totally ignored him, even as he racked up one of his best seasons ever last year, winning the World Cup overall and winning six races to bring his lifetime total to 31 World Cup wins. That's a lot of gold medals. Too bad none of them have come at the Olympics. 

But the thing about Bode is that he really doesn't care; that's not why he's out there. He claims to be seeking a different kind of perfection, and if he doesn't always lay down his best runs when the medals are at stake, then so be it. He's not your typical empty-headed, gonna-go-out-there-and-do-my-best kind of athlete; there's a lot more going on under that brooding, sullen forehead of his. 

This season, he's been way off his game, DNF-ing in eight of the first 16 races so far. At Beaver Creek, he caught a ski on a gate and stuffed it into the safety nets so hard his ankle hasn't been right since. Which brings up something he told me, when I traveled to his New Hampshire home to interview him for the February Men's Journal: "[I]f I get injured this next season, I’ll probably stop. Why not? I’ve got a lot else to do."

This week, he gets one more chance to redeem his season, at the FIS Ski World Championships in Val d'Isere, France (now through next Sunday, Feb. 15th). One good thing is that he seems to do better when expectations are low. We'll see -- take a break from work and watch Bode race.