Eberharter Retires

[Tippster]

Goddamn he was fun to watch over the years. I heart Rahlves, but have always appreciated greatness when I see it. You'll be missed in DC, Stephan.

Eberharter Retires After 16 Years on World Cup Circuit

By HARRY MILTNER

VIENNA, Austria (AP) - Four-time Olympic medalist Stephan Eberharter retired from competitive skiing Friday after 16 years on the World Cup circuit.

The decision was not an easy one, the 35-year-old Eberharter said.

"After 20 years of racing, the time has come to say goodbye," he said. "I have taken my time to consider all the pros and cons, but my heart and mind told me it is enough."

He was the runner-up in last season's overall World Cup standings, behind fellow Austrian Hermann Maier, but took the downhill title for the third straight time. He had won the previous two overall titles when Maier was recovering from a 2001 motorcycle accident.

"One should know when it's enough and I think I have chosen the right moment," Eberharter said. "When you are young, traveling the world, and being a ski star is cool, it's fun," he said. "And fun was always important to me, but I did not feel it anymore."

He said he knew he had reached his limit when he fell ill several times at the start of last season.

"My body told me it was time to quit," he said. "Over the summer this feeling grew even stronger, as I also lacked the motivation needed to train as hard as possible."

After winning two gold medals in the super-G and the men's combined at the 1991 world championship in Saalbach, Austria, at the age of 21, Eberharter suffered several injuries, including broken collar bones and torn cruciate ligaments, and lost his spot on an increasingly dominating Austrian ski team.

He made a comeback in the World Cup in 1997 after winning back-to-back races on the European Cup tour.

But he long found himself in the shadow of the even more successful and hugely popular Maier, and at the end of last season he began hinting that it might have been his last.

Eberharter competed on the World Cup circuit for 16 seasons, winning 29 races, four Olympic medals and four world championship medals - the most recent last year in St. Moritz, where he won the super-G.

At the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics, Eberharter won the giant slalom gold, the super-G silver and the downhill bronze. In Nagano four years earlier, he placed second in the giant slalom.

The retirement leaves Maier and U.S. skier Bode Miller as the favorites for next season's World Cup overall title.

[iceman]

He just can't take losing to the Hermanator, that's all. He hates him. If Bode had won the overall Stephan would be back next year. But congrats on a great career.

[TJ.Brk]

I spoke to Eric Guay of the Canadian Alpine Team yesterday. He's sponsored by atomic. Atomic cut most of the Austrian team loose and signed the top guys from each country.

I wondered if that didn't have something to do with his retirement.

[freshie247]

I dunno,the guy was nails & would have been picked up by any sponsor.Atomic is just known for doing dumb ass maneuvers.They dropped my friend Linda Peterson right after she won the women's extreme championship in 2000.Dynastar picked her right up.

[CaddyDaddy77]

Wow.

Eberharter was and is a badass. Not much for words, but the guy was an amazing technician, super light on his feet and strong in holding his line.
Big shoes to fill from the Austrians this year, Eber was the vet of the WC, he wins even with the young and upcomings in his face.
Mucho respect.

As for Atomic, there's lots of changes internally and with their sponsered atheletes, I think they are headed in the right direction, IMHO.



Good article from Ski Racing.


Austrian alpine champion Stephan Eberharter retires from ski racing at age 35
By Nathaniel Vinton
September 17, 2004


Stephan Eberharter's final season saw downhill wins at Chamonix, Kitzbuehel, Garmisch and Kvitfjell
Nathaniel Vinton/Ski Racing

Stephan Eberharter, one of alpine ski racing's greatest competitors, has announced his retirement. The Austrian champion, who started racing on the World Cup in 1989, won 29 World Cups and climbed the top-three podium 75 times.

"After 20 years of racing, the time has come to say goodbye," said Eberharter at a Vienna press conference on September 17. "I have taken my time to consider all the pros and cons, but my heart and mind told me it is enough."

Eberharter said that he didn't feel he had the edge for another year, physically and mentally. "If one is not hundred percent with the thing," he said, "then the sport is a dangerous thing."

Like most speed-event masters, Eberharter earned most of his victories later in his career. All of his 29 wins came after 1997. Twice he won the overall title (the sport's most prestigious trophy), in 2002 and 2003.

Eberharter also won four Olympic medals, including a gold in the giant slalom at the Salt Lake City Games in 2002. That makes him the oldest alpine skier to ever win that medal, a distinction he speaks of with undisguised pride.

One measure of the longevity and consistency of Eberharter's career is his record at World Championship events. He won the super G twice: in 1991, and again in 2003. The first of those wins, at Saalbach, Austria, came less than a week after the first bombs fell on Bagdhad in the first Persian Gulf War; the second win, at St. Moritz, Switzerland, came on the eve of the present conflict, just days before Colin Powell laid out the case for war at the UN.

Eberharter's first World Cup, at Park City in November of 1989, was won by Ole Christian Fureseth of Norway. At that time, Hans Olsson of Sweden (the youngest competitor in last year's Finals -- Eberharter's last World Cup race) was all of five years old.

In the mid-1990's, Eberharter spent some time on the Europa Cup circuit, trying to regain his form after a series of injuries. He won the overall Europa Cup title in the 1996-1997 season (he had won it once before, in 89-90).

Eberharter's announcement is not a surprise to many who watched last year's World Cup closely. Last January, speaking in his impeccable English to a group of non-Austrian reporters in Chamonix, France, Eberharter acknowledged that he was feeling old and looking forward to retirement. "Of course I am thinking of this," he said then. "To wake up in the morning and not feel this pressure. This, how you say, adrenaline in your stomach. To watch the races while you have your coffee at breakfast."

At that time, Eberharter also cited the extremely competitive nature of the Austrian ski team as something that could wear him down. "A good example is Lasse Kjus," he said, explaining that the Norwegian skier didn't have to struggle constantly to maintain his place on Norway's team. "He was sick, but he had time to recover. He said 'okay, goodbye, see you in two months, when I recover I will come back, if not, I will quit for the season.'"

Eberharter envied that flexibility. "While he is having this break, his mind is recovering also," said Eberharter. "Because this business is very tough. Now we see him recovered from injury and sickness, and he is skiing with fun. He is hot for it. And that's so important."

By the end of last season, Eberharter was telling fellow athletes that he was planning to retire. And he talked wistfully of a more leisurely lifestyle than that of a top-ranked ski racer, which requires sustained periods of intense self-discipline.

"Ten more guys are waiting for your spot," he explained in January. "It is the hard life of being an Austrian skier. Once you understand that this is a tough business. I've been here so many years. And there was never a time for me to relax more than, I don't know, one or two months. My whole life? So one day you have to make a break."

The announcement makes Daron Rahlves, of the United States, the world's top-ranked active downhiller. Eberharter's former serviceman, Thomas Buergler, will now work for both Rahlves and Bode Miller (although Miller will have another serviceman for technical events).

Eberharter's departure also leaves one less athlete at the top of the overall rankings, where Hermann Maier, Bode Miller and Benjamin Raich were clustered last year. Rahlves and Kalle Palander weren't far behind, and Norwegians Lasse Kjus and Kjetil Aamodt were injured for most of the season.

[TJ.Brk]

Originally posted by freshie247
I dunno,the guy was nails & would have been picked up by any sponsor.Atomic is just known for doing dumb ass maneuvers.They dropped my friend Linda Peterson right after she won the women's extreme championship in 2000.Dynastar picked her right up.

Well I'll tell ya what. When I approached Dynastar about the ski test. They didn't think twice about it. They gave 20 pairs of skis directly to the CADS members without blinking an eye. They definately keep an open mind to things involving the non ski racing world world because that is where the profit is now. Gone are the days when you decided if you wanted a GS ski or an SL ski.

I can uderstand why atomic is going after the best racers from each country because of the european exposure. That is stupid IMHO. With the movement by all age groups going towards the freeskiing market. Atomic is missing the boat by cutting off their sponsored freeskiers and going with world cuppers.

All you have to do is look at what sells to answer that question.

1. Which skis get sold more

2. What ski movies do people buy the most of. Racing or Freeskiing.

It's a no brainer to answer that. I think atomic is screwing up. Frankly the small indepentent ski manufacturers with their fatter ski designs with quick turning side cuts will over take the larger manufacturers in 8-10 years.

In twenty years at the Winter Olympics people will be wondering who won the freeskiing Gold more than who won the downhill. I hope anyway.

[CaddyDaddy77]

I think there's a pull both ways at the moment TJ.
There's been a large resurgence in the race end. There's not a major company out that isn't making a race-room product for the public right now.
Additionally the number of plug boots on the market now versus five years ago is at least double. The race program has jumped considerably at a local, national and international level.
The Loveland Derby reached record levels this past year, the largest sanctioned event in the US. Nastar finals have held the largest ski race in NA, growing each year.

Lower level members are making more money than ever before, even Europa cup members.

I agree Atomics movement shave been brash with what they lost, but look what they have gained. They were able to grab some of the highest up and coming racers in the field, there has been some big shakeups, but more guys with contracts in hand. Which in my book is a good thing, especially at the lower levels.

I don't know much about their involvement with freeride sponsorship but would imagine that they wouldn't cut themselves off at the knees, but as with any large company make mistakes along the way and drop folks who should have stayed along, so it goes. They need to focus on each as an individual identity not as a a unit to make each succesfull, very differnet, but akin in the long run.

[kailas]

TJ you ever ski in Austria? all they ski on are race skis, or tuned downed versions of race skis. Problem with Americans they think that what is happening in the U.S. is what is happening eveywhere, not always true. In Europe the whole extremo big mt. sponcered scene has almost dried up. A lot fewer riders are getting sponcerships the emphasis is now on gibbing and the park scene. That is where the $$ is going.

What is the freeskiing gold? The Olympic downhill is exciting, the non-skier will always wonder who won downhill gold.