Hermann Maier biography
Hermann Maier, (born December 7, 1972, Flachau, Austria), Austrian skier who gained two gold medals on the 1998 Olympic Winter Games in Nagano, Japan, and one silver on the 2006 Games in Turin, Italy.
As a baby Maier idolized the good World Cup skiers of the day, together with fellow countryman Franz Klammer. Maier’s father owned a snowboarding faculty, and the boy developed superior approach at a younger age. He was accepted into the Austrian nationwide ski academy at age 15 however was dropped from this system inside a yr due to knee issues and his small measurement (50 kg; 110 lb). He took a job as a bricklayer’s apprentice and through the winters labored as a snowboarding teacher.
In 1995, at age 22 and larger and stronger after seven years of guide labour, Maier stop his job and tried as soon as extra to develop into a World Cup skier. He attracted sufficient consideration on the Europa Cup circuit to earn three World Cup begins late within the 1995–96 season and completed eleventh in a large slalom competitors in Norway. During the 1996–97 season he was hampered by a wrist harm, so it was not till 1997–98, the season main as much as the Winter Olympic Games in Nagano, that Maier was actually an everyday on the World Cup circuit. He took full benefit of his shot at snowboarding glory. Through January 1998 he gained 8 World Cup races—together with 5 straight—and completed among the many high three in 13 of 17 races.
At Nagano, simply 17 seconds after beginning his downhill run, Maier crashed and suffered shoulder and knee accidents that pressured him out of that race and the next day’s slalom competitors. Three days later, nevertheless, he returned to motion and gained the gold medal within the supergiant slalom (super-G). Three days after that victory Maier crashed once more throughout his first run within the big slalom, however he returned for the second run to win one other gold medal. Every week later Maier clinched the general World Cup title. For the 1998–99 World Cup season, he picked up the place he left off, nonetheless dominating the game.
He continued to dominate in World Cup occasions and once more gained the general World Cup title in 2000 and 2001. However, in 2001 Maier was injured in a motorbike accident by which he practically misplaced a leg. His accidents stored him from competing in any snowboarding occasions in 2002, together with these on the Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, Utah. He ultimately recovered, taking residence his first postaccident medal in a 2003 World Cup occasion; the next yr marked his fourth total World Cup title win.
Maier returned to the Olympic stage in 2006 and gained a silver medal within the super-G. He introduced, nevertheless, that these Olympic Games can be his final, and the next yr he did not win any medals within the Alpine snowboarding world championships, the primary time Maier competed in a significant occasion with out profitable a race. Maier gained a 54th profession World Cup race in November 2008, however just a few months later he suffered a knee harm. After a troublesome restoration from surgical procedure, he retired from aggressive snowboarding in October 2009.