04/26/24
November 24, 2003
Bode goes big,: Schlopy goes to the hospital. In what can only be categorized as a damn shame, US Ski Team veteran EriK Schlopy, who was poised to eat some serious Euro lunch in the tech events on this year's World Cup, will be getting his ACL rebuilt instead. Schlopy ended last season strong, trained well in the offseason, and, despite one of the most spectacular crashes ever seen in a tech event in the first GS of the season, was considered to be headed for more than a few podium finishes this year. Instead, he's almost certainly out ffor the season. Dammitall. Meanwhile, with three events completed in this year's World Cup and two victories to Bode Miller, even the Euros are saying that he's the strongest contender to win the crystal globe. That conclusion is getting harder to avoid, for anyone with eyes to see it. Go, Gumby!
posted by lil_brown_bat to other at 06:39 PM - 4 comments
do you know if he had the lasik eye surgery or something else? I don't know what the procedure was. It got just a brief mention in (I think) Ski Racing. Reading between the lines, I'm guessing it was something lasik-like, optional and not injury-related. Can lasik correct astigmatism? If so, that would be pretty important for a ski racer, particularly in tech events.
posted by lil_brown_bat at 10:12 AM on November 25, 2003
lbb, any ideas on the origins of Gumby? And of his eight wins, what is the average margin of victory? Bode seems to blow away the competition.
posted by garfield at 01:39 PM on November 25, 2003
I don't know who laid the Gumby tag on him, but it's because of his impressive flexibility, which is a large part of his athleticism. Ron LeMaster did a freeze-frame analysis of Bode doing a turn in Ski or Skiing (one of 'em) last season that detailed exactly what he's doing differently than everyone else in his turns...basically taking a shortcut with his upper body, which also explained how he can get back on his little short skis and still not lose it. Pretty remarkable. The place to look for Bode's results, or anyone else's, is on the FIS website. They've got some great search tools that allow you to look at results organized by races, venues, racers, countries, events, whatever. Of Bode's eight victories, three were in slalom and five were in GS, and yeah, his margins of victory do seem to be bigger than those of other racers. He doesn't boast or talk about what he's gonna do, but it seems like he made some incremental improvements over the summer. With Eberharter getting long in the tooth, Maier now indisputably llimited by injuries, and Aamodt out for the season, I don't see anyone nearly as strong as Bode.
posted by lil_brown_bat at 11:00 PM on November 25, 2003
Interesting, the article mentions that Miller recently had surgery on his left eye and it is helping his confidence...lil brown bat do you know if he had the lasik eye surgery or something else?