Bill Johnson (skier)

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For other persons named Bill Johnson, see Bill Johnson (disambiguation).
Olympic medal record
Men’s Alpine Skiing
Gold 1984 Sarajevo Downhill

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.

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[edit] 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 gold medal win in a time of 1:45.59 beat out Peter Müller of Switzerland by 0.27 seconds.

[edit] Post-Olympic slide

After two more World cup downhill victories in Aspen and Whistler in March 1984, Johnson was at the top of his sport. But his skiing career faded fast, due in part to his heavy drinking and abrasive, arrogant personality. The following year, repelled by Johnson's outrageous ego, several 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. His best results after 1984 were two 7th place finishes: at Wengen in January 1985 and at Whistler in March 1986, his final World Cup downhill race.

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.

[edit] 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 the downhill race of the 2001 U.S. Alpine Championships, held at The Big Mountain near Whitefish, 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.

[edit] Other facts

  • Canadian downhill ski racer Steve Podborski, who finished eighth 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.”

[edit] External links

Bill has 2 sons named tyler and nick

[edit] References

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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