Norwegian skier Kjetil Andre Aamodt still a threat at 34

Updated: 2006-02-11 15:00

No Alpine skier has won more Olympic medals than Norway's Kjetil Andre Aamodt.

He captured the first two of his seven -- a gold and a bronze -- at the precocious age of 20 in the 1992 Albertville Games. His last two were gold in the super-G and combined four years ago in Salt Lake City.

Kjetil Andre Aamodt of Norway reatcs after placing fifth at the men's Alpine Ski World Cup downhill race on the Kandahar in Garmisch-Partenkirchen January 28, 2006. [REUTERS]

Now Aamodt is back for more -- a threat in all five disciplines, beginning with Sunday's downhill, in his fifth Olympic Games.

"When you're 34, the World Cup is everyday life," he said, "but the Olympics is something special. You get a little extra nerve, and the nerve makes you a better competitive skier."

Few have been better than the soft-spoken Aamodt, whose career stretches from the era of the gregarious Italian star Alberto Tomba to the wild-child behavior of American Bode Miller. Through it all, Aamodt has won with quiet precision and absolutely no bombast.

"I'm an all-around skier," he said simply after his seventh-place finish in Friday's downhill training run. "I love skiing."

Asked if he could say something controversial like Miller, Aamodt smiled and replied, "I'm not that kind of guy. I'll keep those thoughts for myself."

Aamodt had one of his worst seasons a year ago, finishing 26th in the overall standings. But, as he has said, the Olympics bring out his best. In his final race before Turin, he was third behind Christoph Gruber of Austria and American Scott Macartney.

Competitors are always wary of Aamodt and his longtime Norwegian teammate Lasse Kjus, who has five Olympic medals.

"They are very strong so we have to look at them," said Austrian Benjamin Raich. "We will see. Especially at the Olympics they are always very strong."

Kjus, 35, bothered by illness this winter, was 17th in Friday's run.

But whatever the finish, he and Aamodt have cemented their status among the greatest of Norwegian athletes.

"Even if you aren't into sports, people really know who they are," said Per Lund, Alpine manager for the Norwegian ski federation. "Kjus and Aamodt, everyone in Norway knows them."

In Albertville, Aamodt was barely out of the junior ranks, in which he finished first or second in all five events in 1990. Two years later, recovering from mononucleosis, he won gold in the super-G. He followed a few days later with a bronze in the slalom, behind gold medalist Tomba and silver medalist Marc Girardelli of Luxembourg.

His only overall world championship came two years later, when he also won two silvers and a bronze at the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics. He didn't medal in Nagano but won two golds in Salt Lake.

In Turin, he said the quality of the competition is the same as it was back in Albertville 14 years ago.

"It's always hard to win Olympic medals," he said. "It's always hard at the top, so we'll see."

Event Schedule

Feb 12 6:00 am     Men's Downhill
Feb 14 6:00 am     Men's Combined Downhill 
       11:00 am    Men's Combined Slalom 1st Run
       1:30 pm     Men's Combined Slalom 2nd Run  Men's Combined Final Ranking
Feb 18 5:00 am     Men's Super-G
Feb 20 3:30 am     Men's Giant Slalom 1st Run
       7:00 am     Men's Giant Slalom 2nd Run     Men's Giant Slalom Final Ranking
Feb 25 9:00 am     Men's Slalom 1st Run
       12:30 pm    Men's Slalom 2nd Run           Men's Slalom Final Ranking

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