WHISTLER, British Columbia — America’s skiing bad boy turned bronze yesterday.
Bode Miller, the villain of the 2006 Turin Olympics, took third place in the men’s downhill, his first event of the 2010 Olympics.
The New Hampshire native, who came up empty four years ago, got down the hill in 1:54.40, nine-hundredths of a second behind gold medalist Didier DeFago of Switzerland. Miller is the first U.S. downhill medalist since Tommy Moe won gold in 1994.
“I’ve raced a lot of races since the last time I was in these big races and [was] fired up,” Miller said. “I think if I let myself get emotionally wound-up like that there’s no one who wants it more. There’s nobody who pushes harder. It’s just a matter of managing those mistakes that are inevitably going to happen.”
Miller nearly retired last summer before deciding to make a push for these Olympics in September. Teammates describe a more serious, focused Miller than the one who famously partied harder than he skied in Turin.
“He wants it,” teammate Steven Nyman said.
Before yesterday’s race, several other skiers said they could sense Miller would have a big day. He barely said a word on the lift up the hill. In the lodge before the race, Miller said, he began feeling the nerves that only an Olympic hill can bring.
“It was cool for me,” Miller said. “That’s sort of what I’ve been looking for. That was the feeling I’ve been searching for and I let it build up. I was real nervous before I went, excited nervous not anxiety nervous. It felt great.”
Miller flew down the early part of the course into the middle portion of the race. He was the eighth racer of the day, giving him little time to study the course, which had been altered since the racers practiced on it last week.
Overcast skies made it difficult for Miller to see every bump and a few bobbles slowed him down toward the bottom of the hill.
It was the third medal overall for the 32-year-old, who won two silvers in Salt Lake City in 2002. After winning two world championships in 2005, he entered the Turin Games as a much-hyped favorite. His subsequent flops and his nonchalant attitude made him the antihero of those games.
This time, Miller said he has embraced the emotions of the Olympics more.
“This feels different because of my emotional state,” said Miller, who will race again today in the super combined. “I let myself go more. In [Turin] I was ready to win. I was capable of winning and I executed actually fairly well in a couple of races, but I wasn’t emotionally involved in the races. I was treating them very cold and clinical and just executing my plan and seeing if I won.”
Miller’s new attitude is clear to his fellow competitors. Liechtenstein’s Marco Buechel saw Miller before the downhill and said he had never seen him so nervous.
“It’s a little different this year,” Buechel said. “We don’t talk that much, but every time we do it’s very nice. I don’t know if he has a different attitude in racing. He loves to race, I know that. He does not love a lot of things surrounding the races. But in his heart ski racing is what he’s up for.”
