When Giants were walking on Earth

Such times

Available in HQ as well.

Way cool! I'm e-mailing it to a friend who used to be a pro racer back then and says beak-away gates are the worst thing that ever happened to ski racing. 

Two of my ATF's!

JF

Good quality stuff there.  Keep 'em coming.

Thank you.

Those guys had such a rivalry.

Imagine what a Killy-Schranz side by side would have looked like.

Don't know where you found this but it is wonderful stuff.

Great stuff, Nobody. Two of the greatest of all time!

Thanks!

Best regards,

Bob

My friend replied that he had seen that when it happened. He also said that it decided the 1975 WC. 

Don't get me started. I like Thoeni as much as the next guy, but the deck was really stacked against Stenmark here. The Italians who raced against their teammate in the early rounds of the duels just laid down for him, while Stenmark really had no team to support him. Not particularly fair. Also kind of unfair to Klammer, who I think was a close third in the standings, to have the Cup title decided in an extra slalom, a discipline in which he basically had no chance against two of the greatest of all time.  

http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1089678/index.htm

Yeah, but truth to be said, we Italians have been on the short side of the stick so many times that once in a while...won't change much but keep us happy...

Actually, I was reading that SI article, and it turns out the race was on the schedule all along, so no gripes for Klammer, really. Thoeni had an incredible career, sometimes overlooked, I think, by the utter kickass greatness of Stenmark. And Thoeni, by all accounts, is a super-nice guy (I've heard varying accounts about Stenmark, who BTW is a big fan of Madesimo; have heard Klammer is a cool dude).

Certainly, there was no cheating here, just a good break for Thoeni that he had a much stronger team. And it doesn't take anything away from an historic day for skiing, with two of the greatest of all time going head to head. I've always been a big Stenmark fan, and felt that he got a raw deal from the FIS, but more later in his career (eg, combined rules) than here.

Thoeni was slalom coach for..oh you know, whatsisname. Italian guy who was so well known about 20 years ago?

Thoeni was one of the greats, in my opinion.

Quote:

Originally Posted by oisin 

Thoeni was slalom coach for..oh you know, whatsisname. Italian guy who was so well known about 20 years ago?

 

Thoeni was one of the greats, in my opinion.

Tomba of course was the guy who got all the noise but Thoeni was the great one.

 

I'm not so sure Thoeni was greater than Tomba. Tomba is number three on the all time win list, had a World Cup overall title and three Olympic golds, plus a number of World Championships. Thoeni won 30-some races I think and the overall I think four times. It's close. I hated Tomba, but the guy was one of the best ever.

Quote:

Originally Posted by prickly 

Actually, I was reading that SI article, and it turns out the race was on the schedule all along, so no gripes for Klammer, really. Thoeni had an incredible career, sometimes overlooked, I think, by the utter kickass greatness of Stenmark. And Thoeni, by all accounts, is a super-nice guy (I've heard varying accounts about Stenmark, who BTW is a big fan of Madesimo; have heard Klammer is a cool dude).

 

Certainly, there was no cheating here, just a good break for Thoeni that he had a much stronger team. And it doesn't take anything away from an historic day for skiing, with two of the greatest of all time going head to head. I've always been a big Stenmark fan, and felt that he got a raw deal from the FIS, but more later in his career (eg, combined rules) than here.

So, do we be stand the chance to cross his tracks? ;-)

(edited, I had written "to be" instead of "do we"...)

About Tomba and Thoeni, two completely different personality traits, one, born in the mountains, in the German speaking part of Italy, down the road from Passo Stelvio. With the tipical reserved carachter or

his people, and the disposition to work hard and talk little which derives from the region. Stenmark appears close to him in this regards.

Tomba, otoh, orginates from Bologna, medium-big sized town in Central Italy, known for the "opennes" and outcoming carachter of its people...

But when Tomba had to be coached, the FISI thought that no one was better fit to keep him under control than Thoeni.

Tomba was (is) the stereotipical Italian, loud, "Guasconesque" in his behaviour and actions, and, fact really new, coming from a town in the flatlands, totally different from the team members who came before and with him...until then, the places in the Italian team were a thing "reserved" to the guys and girls coming from the mountains.

He's left good memories and bad memories as people caracterized as him do.

Edited by Nobody - 5/11/2009 at 08:06 am GMT