B-0-0-0-de’s 0lympics at T0rin0

The 2006 Winter Olympics is one Bode Miller wants to forget.

Coming in as the Poster Child of the American delegation, Miller exits the game, frustrated, ego-bruised, and empty-handed.

Some Miller would be great for Bode right about now…
(Source: Newsweek Magazine)

This is not a slam on Bode, he is still a great athlete. But looking back, it would have been great had he exercised a little shrewd discretion, a little more caution.

So, what happened really?

Today, at the Slalom event, Bode ’skiied out of bounds’ only 15 seconds into his first run, and thus, ended his medal hunt at these Winter Games (Benjamin Raich of Austria, again, took the Gold at the Slalom event, four days after winning the Giant Slalom event).

Miller’s Medal Hunt ended today (Source: NBC)

Four days ago, Bode skiied his best at the Giant Slalom event, but could only manage a 6th place finish.

Going back even further, at the Super-G (Feb. 19th), the World Champion’s breakneck speed was impressive to watch. But with challenging hairpin turns, Super-G is more like Formula 1 Racing than NASCAR, and as a result, Bode smashed into a gate in true NASCAR fashion and was out of contention.

At the Combined, Bode straddled a gate (i.e. the pole in the snow went between his legs) and was disqualified.

At the Downhill event (Feb. 12th), Bode saw a United Nations of French, Austrian, Swiss, and Norwegian skiers outperformed him.

Undoubtedly, many would be wondering if Bode was skiing WASTED at these Winter Games. I personally doubt it. But right now, some ‘Spirits‘ (pardon the pun) wouldn’t sound too bad at all.

Update: Read Bode’s lighthearted look back at the 2006 Winter Games, Unrepentant Bode: ‘Man, I Rocked Here’