Bill Johnson (skier)
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William Dean ("Bill") Johnson (born March 30, 1960) is an American former Alpine skier who became the first American man to ever win an Olympic gold medal in alpine skiing.
Olympic triumph
Raised in Oregon, Johnson was a troubled youth who began competitive skiing as a means of harnessing his energy. In 1984, at age 23, Johnson challenged the long-established European domination of downhill ski racing. His victory on January 15, 1984 on the storied Lauberhorn course at Wengen, Switzerland was the first for an American male in World Cup downhill competition.A month later at the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, the brash young American predicted victory, evoking comparisons to Joe Namath and Muhammad Ali and irking his European competitors. His scary yet inspired gold-medal run down the Bjelesnica course in a time of 1:45.59 defeated legend Peter Müller of Switzerland by 0.27 seconds.
Post-Olympic slide
After two post-Olympic world cup victories in Aspen, Colorado and Whistler-Blackcomb, British Columbia, Johnson’s skiing career faded fast, due in part to his heavy drinking and abrasive, arrogant personality. The following year, repelled by Johnson's outrageous ego, a slew of U.S. ski team staff members, including Johnson's ski technician and trainer, left their positions with the team. Contentious relationships with teammates and coaches led to many altercations which nearly resulted in Johnson being thrown off the team.Due to injuries to his left knee and back which required surgery, and more significantly, sagging results, Johnson was left off the U.S. team for the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, unable to defend his gold medal. By the end of the decade, he was done as a serious competitor.
Comeback attempt
Johnson's personal life suffered as well, when his 13-month-old son drowned in a hot tub in 1992. At age 40, his marriage ended in divorce, and he was bankrupt and living in a mobile home when he mounted an improbable comeback bid for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. The comeback ended abruptly on March 22, 2001, when Johnson crashed horribly during a qualifying race at Big Mountain Ski Area in Montana. He sustained serious injury to the left side of his brain, nearly bit off his tongue, and was comatose for three weeks. Johnson remains brain-damaged and in need of constant care, mostly from his mother. He lives on disability and has become slightly more functional, though his speech and memory are permanently impaired.Other facts
- Canadian downhill ski racer Steve Podborski, who finished 8th behind Johnson in the 1984 Olympic downhill, has said of Johnson: "I'm hard pressed to find a nice thing that Bill did for other people, but he never did anything nice for himself either."
- Johnson’s stated personal motto (tattooed on his arm) was “Ski To Die.”
References
| Olympic Champions in Men's Downhill |
|---|
| 1948: Henri Oreiller | 1952: Zeno Colò | 1956: Toni Sailer | 1960: Jean Vuarnet | 1964: Egon Zimmermann | 1968: Jean-Claude Killy | 1972: Bernhard Russi | 1976: Franz Klammer | 1980: Leonhard Stock | 1984: Bill Johnson | 1988: Pirmin Zurbriggen | 1992: Patrick Ortlieb | 1994: Tommy Moe | 1998: Jean-Luc Crétier | 2002: Fritz Strobl | 2006: Antoine Dénériaz |
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