Bode Miller?

[Steve M.]

No medals. All hype. Good riddance.

Good grief!

[Brad Russ]

Yep, it's the Dan vs Dave thing all over again. The networks hype them up, and the viewers watch them fall.

[Brad Russ]

AP Exclusive: Bode Miller on his Olympic experience: 'I did it my way'

SESTRIERE, Italy (AP) -- Unbent, unbowed and ultimately unsuccessful, Bode Miller said in an interview Saturday he is skiing away from these Olympics on his own terms -- content without any medals and impressed by the local nightlife.

"I just did it my way. I'm not a martyr, and I'm not a do-gooder. I just want to go out and rock. And man, I rocked here," Miller said in an exclusive interview with The Associated Press soon after he skidded off the slalom course in his fifth and final race, completing an 0-for-the-Olympics.

Miller came to the Italian Alps cresting on a wave of expectations and was considered a medal threat in every Alpine event. But he failed to finish three of them and his best showing was fifth in the downhill -- part of a games with few highlights for the U.S. Ski Team.

"The expectations were other people's," Miller said. "I'm comfortable with what I've accomplished, including at the Olympics. I came in here to race as hard as I could. That was my obligation to myself."

As for his obligation to prepare, Miller said he was less ready for these games than the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics, where he won two silver medals.

"I've been living my life as if I might have died two weeks before the Olympics started," he said. "That left me the opportunity to dig deep, to go down that other route, to make more sacrifices and get back to where I was."

Miller said that while he might have prepared differently, he isn't one to second guess and he started each race fully focused and determined to win.

He called his Olympic experience "awesome" and cited the gold medals by teammates Julia Mancuso and Ted Ligety as one reason. Another, he said, was Sestriere's bar scene.

"My quality of life is the priority. I wanted to have fun here, to enjoy the Olympic experience, not be holed up in a closet and not ever leave your room," he said. "People said, 'Why can't you stay in for the two weeks, three weeks? You've got the rest of your life to experience the games the way everybody else does.' But I like the whole package. I always have."

He compared his Olympic experience to fellow American Daron Rahlves, who was a favorite in the downhill and a contender in the super-G but didn't come close to the podium.

"Look at what happened to Rahlves. He was holed up in his RV, he's probably the fittest guy out here and he made a point of talking about how important the Olympics were to him," Miller said. "And then look -- a little bad luck and he's got nothing to show for the whole thing.

"Me, it's been an awesome two weeks," Miller said. "I got to party and socialize at an Olympic level."

[Steve M.]

Originally Posted by Little Mel

Yep, it's the Dan vs Dave thing all over again. The networks hype them up, and the viewers watch them fall.

The only difference between the two is that Dan O'Brien, though he may have missed qualifying for the 1992 Olympics and rendered moot his friendly rivalry with Dave Johnson, made it on the '96 team and won the decathalon, becoming the first and (so far) only American to do so since Bruce Jenner in 1976. Miller actually went to these Winter Games. . . and won zip.

[TJL]

I think the guy is a jerk.

To go to the Olympics and then say you're not there to win medals?

BULL****!

THAT'S WHAT YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO DO AT THE OLYMPICS!



Sorry, my Olympic spirit isn't here this morning. I left it at a bar last night.