Bode Miller

About Bode Miller

Bode Miller (born October 12, 1977) is an American alpine skier. In 2008 Bode (pronounced as IPA: [boʊˈdi]) won his second overall Alpine Skiing World Cup title in four years, after also winning the title in 2005. This led the United States ski team to sweep the men's and women's overall World Cup titles for the first time in 25 years, as Lindsey Vonn won the woman's title. In 2005 Bode became the first American in 22 years to win the overall title, since Phil Mahre and Tamara McKinney in 1983. Earlier during his championship season, with a victory on November 28, 2004, he became only the fifth man to win World Cup races in all five disciplines: slalom, giant slalom, Super-G, downhill, and combined. With 31 World Cup victories, he is the most successful American alpine skier ever. He is also a four-time World Champion in four different disciplines and has a pair of silver medals from the 2002 Winter Olympics. On May 12, 2007, Miller announced that he would be leaving the US Ski Team.. However, he still competes for the USA in international competitions.

Born in Easton, New Hampshire, to Jo Kenney and Woody Miller, he grew up in Franconia, New Hampshire, a small community in the heart of New Hampshire's ski region. His family, including older sister Kyla, younger sister Wren (short for Genesis Wren Bungo Windrushing Turtleheart) and younger brother Chelone (full name Nathaniel Kinsman Ever Chelone Skan), lived on 450 acres (2 km²) of land in a forest, where his parents celebrated the solstices, in a log cabin without electricity or indoor plumbing. He was homeschooled until the third grade, but after his parents divorced, he began attending public school. He applied for and got a scholarship to the Carrabassett Valley Academy, a training ground for skiers in Maine. His mother's parents owned and started the Tamarack Tennis Camp, and he has played tennis and soccer since childhood.

Miller first gained widespread recognition when he won two silver medals at the 2002 Winter Olympics in the Giant Slalom and Combined events, though he had been known to skiing fans since he burst onto the World Cup scene as an 18-year-old in 1996. Miller is known for his reckless style, often risking crashes to increase his chances of winning a given race; in his book, Bode: Go Fast, Be Good, Have Fun, Miller stated that his goal as a skier was not to win medals, but rather to ski "as fast as the natural universe will allow." In 2006, Miller also become famous for his reclusive (but outspoken) personality, and his attention-getting statements. Miller has historically fared well at the FIS World Ski Championships, winning a total of four gold medals and one silver medal.