Bode Miller

Arguably the most successful male alpine ski racer in the history of the sport, Bode Miller was a six-time Olympic medalist whose brash style and extraordinary speed also captured six World Cup and four World Cup Championships over the course of a two-decade career. Born Samuel Bode Miller on October 12, 1977 in Easton, New Hampshire, he and his siblings, including brother and fellow athlete Chelone, were raised in nearby Franconia in a log cabin without electricity or plumbing. His grandparents had been skiing enthusiasts who founded a ski lodge and tennis camp after World War II, and Miller excelled at both sports, as well as soccer, by the time he was eleven years old. But his skiing talent provided him with a scholarship to Carrabassett Valley Academy, where he developed an unorthodox approach to both the sport and to his education; he departed from the school without a diploma in his senior year and turned heads at the 1995 Junior Nationals by finishing third and qualifying for the national team. Miller soon worked his way through the World Cup ranks with a philosophy of capturing medals at the fastest possible speeds. Though he crashed in 14 of his first 20 events, he also ranked in the Top 20 at others while still a teenager; by 1998, he was competing in the Slalom and Giant Slalom at the Nagano Olympics, and though he wiped out in both events, he had soon refined his reckless style to claim third place in the latter category by 2000. The following year, Miller was competing in downhill and super-giant slalom, or Super-G, as well as Slalom and Giant Slalom and winning races in these categories by 2002, which culminated in two silver medals and top-ranked skier status at the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. Miller also proved as adept at self-promotion as he did at his chosen sport, and he became an in-demand guest on talk shows; he backed up the media attention with significant wins at nine World Cup and World Championship events between 2003 and 2005, including first place titles in each of his four chosen disciplines. But his meteoric rise was soon followed by a downward trajectory, with losses in each of his events at the 2006 Winter Olympics; more damaging was a "60 Minutes" (CBS, 1968- ) interview in which Miller admitted that he had competed while intoxicated, for which he was forced to make a public apology to the United States Skiing Association. The following year, Miller left the U.S. Ski Team to found and compete for the independent Team America, and racked up impressive wins in World Cup Races in 2007 and 2008. But an ankle injury hobbled his return to form in 2009 and forced him out of the World Cup season that year; by 2010, he had returned to U.S. Ski for the Winter Olympics and earned his first gold medal in the men's super combined competition, as well as additional medals in downhill and Super-G. But this winning season was followed only modest returns at the World Championships in 2011 and 2012 and the complete loss of 2013 for knee surgery and recuperation before the 2014 Olympics. Miller surprised many by capturing a bronze in the Super-G race at Sochi, which earned him second place on the all-time list of Olympic male medalists for alpine skiing, and he closed his final successful season with wins at the World Cup and a rank of eighth overall for the season, his best placement in over a half-decade. He would mount an attempt to make the World Championship season in 2015, but suffered a leg injury that took him out of the competition. He would remain out of the sport until 2016 due to back surgery and the birth of his first child with spouse and beach volleyball player Morgan Beck, but his return was hampered by a lawsuit from his former sponsor, Head N.V., from which he had parted in 2015 to ski for another company, Bomber. Head blocked his attempt on the grounds that Miller had reportedly agreed to not ski for another company for a two-year period after the end of their contract. The legal snafu kept Miller out of the sport until 2017, when he announced his retirement from competition. He joined NBC Sports later that year to serve as an Alpine skiing analyst for their coverage of the Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea.