Woody Creek – Bob Beattie is moving a little slowly and shakily these days. The most influential figure in the development of U.S. ski racing had neck surgery last fall, has a bum ankle and had to cancel a trip to watch World Cup races in Austria, Italy and France this month because of a chest cold.
The crusty New Englander with a passion for skiing as big as Mont Blanc is 72, and with the gravelly voice that called the greatest ski run of all time for ABC at the Innsbruck Olympics 30 years ago, he’ll let you know getting old is no fun.
“I hate it,” Beattie growled over coffee recently at the Woody Creek Store. “Aw, I hate it!”
He likes what he sees in the ski team these days, though. With one of his old racers at the helm – chief executive Bill Marolt raced for Beattie in the early 1960s – the U.S. is in second place in the World Cup’s Nations Cup standings.
That would have seemed unthinkable when two of Marolt’s teammates, Billy Kidd and Jimmie Heuga, won the first two men’s Olympic skiing medals for the U.S. in 1964. Beattie believes the ski team the U.S. sends to the Turin Olympics could be its most successful.
“This is a great time to do well,” Beattie said, noting traditional alpine powers Switzerland, Italy, France and Germany are down. “The fact that we’re second in the overall World Cup is not so much how well we’re doing but how poorly the other countries are doing.”
Austria has 10,043 points in the Nation’s Cup, the U.S. 4,046, showing the world’s best team also is the deepest. But Austria will be at a disadvantage at the Olympics because teams may enter only four racers in alpine events. That means the U.S., with experienced stars such as Daron Rahlves and Bode Miller, augmented by up-and-coming talents such as Ted Ligety, Lindsey Kildow and Julia Mancuso, can go toe-to-toe with Austria in the medal count.
“Look at the Swiss. They’re no good,” Beattie said. “The Italians have only one guy (slalom star Giorgio Rocca). The French don’t have anybody. The Norwegians have one guy (five-event racer Aksel Lund Svindal).”
Beattie was the first full-time coach of the U.S. Ski Team, which previously came together only for major competitions like the Olympics and the world championships. In 1966 he co-founded the World Cup. In 1976 he called Franz Klammer’s hair-raising gold-medal downhill run at the Innsbruck Olympics with Frank Gifford.
Miller is the reigning World Cup champion and could win three or four medals in Turin if he’s in shape mentally and physically – a big if in my mind. Rahlves seems like a lock for a medal or two in downhill and super-G, maybe even giant slalom.
Ligety has been the surprise of the season in slalom. Mancuso won two medals at the 2005 world championships, and Kildow had two fourth-place finishes there.
Beattie, like Miller a native of New Hampshire, said Miller is in the process of destroying much of what he has built because of his intemperate remarks, alienating supporters and antagonizing people within the team. He’s also not racing as well as he did last year.
“He’s one of the best athletes this sport has ever seen,” Beattie said. “He’s an unbelievable athlete.”
Beattie loves what he sees in Rahlves.
“He skis the best of anybody on tough hills,” Beattie said. “He is very strong mentally and physically. I’m glad to see him get his due a little bit.”
The best Olympic medal haul for the U.S. in alpine was five (1984), and the team has won four twice (1964, 1994). No American has won three medals at the same Olympics, but four have won two – Andrea Mead (1952), Penny Pitou (1960), Tommy Moe (1994) and Miller (2002). Beattie said he believes all those marks could be exceeded in Turin.
“I see probably five, maybe six (medals),” Beattie said. “I think Bode probably in the combined, downhill or super-G – one of those two – and giant slalom. I think Daron’s improved his giant slalom tremendously, so he’s got a chance in three events rather than two. If he gets off to a good start, he could win two medals. The women, one medal, maybe. They’re young. They’re unpredictable. They’re more than capable. On a given day, they can do great.”
World Cup Nations Cup
1. Austria 10,043 pts.
2. USA 4,046
3. Italy 3,076
4. Switzerland 2,770
5. Sweden 2,345
6. Canada 1,987
7. France 1,667
8. Norway 1,575
9. Croatia 1,463
10. Germany 888
Staff writer John Meyer can be reached at 303-820-1616 or jmeyer@denverpost.com.
