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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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