Required fields are marked *. Amazingly, the victory comes eight years after his Olympic Games victory in Innsbruck. Franz Klammer won the Downhill skiing event in 4 consecutive World Cup seasons from 1975 to 1978. Hes one of the very few persons who seemed to do everything right. The next day, Katarina showed up on time with her gear, which Albertos personal bodyguard carried up to the hill. Only a few months later, Franz told me how he managed to clinch that title after his fantastic run. After his fourth consecutive season title in downhill in 1978, he began a prolonged slump until the end of the 1981 season. They also brought the 1976 downhill race course back to life, albeit with machine grooming to make it a bit more racer friendly. They start for the love of the sport. While Klammer had been consistent in his success on the skis, Fischer and his team had innovated a new product. And she is still playing one of the most important roles in my life. He won the gold medal in the downhill event at the 1976 Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria. But Pepi Fischer wanted more. You grow up with it., The most important week in my life! The Austrian nation would accept nothing short of a Gold as they hosted the World. Here is a Pro-Quality transfer from my fathers original master tape and it turned out brilliant and clear. The greatest downhill run of ALL Time! The pressure intensified again when Klammer drew the 15th spot for his Olympic run. He answered that although his gold medal at the Olympic Games in Innsbruck was generally regarded as his greatest career achievement, winning at Kitzbhel in 1984 meant something very special to him, considering he hadn't won there in seven years. Suddenly there were 60,000 people in the stadium and the whole mountain began to shake. Klammer did not have classic ski technique, he came out of the gate fearlessly, right on the edge. Every set of Austrian eyes were tuned in to ORF across the far corners of the land. Its like Hermann Maier for me his program was at such a high level and he had everything taken care of for him. Chasing the Line presented new challenges he hadnt faced in producing Streif, which took viewers inside the minds of downhillers who threw themselves fearlessly into the Mausefalle. The risk was too great and the snow was wrong. Klammer said. Franz everyone knows him!, In his heart, Kresse believed in the story. And there was only one leftit was Franz Klammer. Russi continued; Franz Klammer was in the starting gate. Right: Schwarzenegger and Maierat the FIS Alpine WorldChampionships in Schladming in February 2013. And he took a three-win streak, including his second straight Hahnenkamm win, into the Olympics. A season earlier in 1974-75, he won an unprecedented eight World Cup downhills. Like Muhammad Ali for boxing, Wayne Gretzky for ice hockey or Tiger Woods for golf. The other challenge faced by Rahlves was the need to intentionally ski out of control. Mittermaier is married to fellow pro skier Christian Neureuther, and their son, Felix Neureuther, is also a pro skier. I cant believe it, he has been amazing! Stewart said. He is not only legendary as a skier, hes just a very great person.. Enjoy!! I knew I will do it, he explains, I was full of confidence, I knew I can pull it off, and at any time, I learned how to win a race: concentrate, just on your race, you and the mountain and not thinking about anybody else. The feats of this exceptional downhill skier include this total domination of the 1974-1975 season, with eight victories in the nine races of the programme, a run, straddling the two following seasons, of 10 consecutive wins and another record: five small discipline crystal globes, won consecutively from 1975 to 1978, then in 1983. Andreas and Elisabeth Schied found both. But she still appeared confident heading into the Games. They have two daughters, Sophie and Stephanie.[1]. He met fans who vividly re-lived their own experiences of Feb. 5, 1976. He also called other sports. Sporting Legends. Chasing the Line, it would have been easy to simply pull archival footage to build a documentary story. Im extremely happy. Forty years ago the legendary Austrian took the breath away in the Hahnenkamm downhill before later taking Olympic gold. Darren Glen 1.1M views 3 years ago Frank Gifford discusses covering Franz Klammer's Olympic. They also required more feeling from the racers, who needed to steer them continuously from the entrance to the exit of each turn. She never came to the races. Their excitement is palpable. And it meant 100% commitment. I wanted to make a film. Seen here at Inghams 'Discovery Day' celebrating their 75th Anniversary at the Heritage Motor Centre, Gaydon. It turned out that powerful skiers could exit the turns with amazing acceleration, a situation that caused some spectacular crashes. The young Austrian Franz Klammer is considered undoubtedly the favourite for the 1976 Olympic downhill race in Innsbruck. Chasing the Line. The feature-length film debuted with a screening Sept. 27 at the Zurich Film Festival. Klammer's gold-medal-winning downhill run at the 1976 Innsbruck Olympics was anything but dull. Across all of Austria, there was nary a single person on a village street. To understand the 1976 Olympic downhill, you need to look back a few years in time. So I really wanted to give the audience a real feel for the people in the story.. The Italian skier, closely followed by a crew from a U.S. network, was proudly wearing his two Olympic gold medals around his neck. After beating Collombin and Russi at Schladming in December 1973 under terrible conditions, Collombin bested him at Garmisch, Avoriaz and Wengen. Become a member and join a community of people who care about skiing! I remember watching it live on TV as a kid and it was an electrifying performance. He could sense it himself. As the lowest seed in 15th position, his task of bringing home . It was unreal to be a part of that it was an honor, said Rahlves, who spent a week last February doing ski scenes outside Innsbruck. TRY A 1-YR INTRODUCTORY MEMBERSHIP IN ISHA! Today, Franz Klammer is a paid ambassador for several ski resorts and corporations. In many ways, Klammer was an unlikely champion. His home village did not have any ski lifts, so as a child he climbed up the pasture behind his house to ski downhill. School playgrounds were quiet and the capital of Vienna was empty. He was really experienced and I learned so much from Gerald in the sense that he told me whats going on in the minds of downhill skiers and how they how they how they operate.. Franz Klammer and the 1976 Olympic Downhill [], Your email address will not be published. There was a sense of calm an indicator of confidence as the 22-year-old athlete put his poles over the starting wand. The steep and sinuous La Face course at Val dIsre, France, which was built in the late 1980s by Switzerlands Bernhard Russi, the 1972 mens downhill Olympic champion, launched an unexpected revolution in the sport. Legend has it that at the top just before Franz left the starting gate he asked the timing official What do I need to do to win? and the guy responded Kill Yourself. But producers chose to recreate the historic 1976 race down Patscherkofel. He retired from international competition at age 31.Klammer finished with 26 World Cup victories, 45 podiums and 87 top ten finishes (71 downhill, 5 combined, 11 giant slalom). I think that was one of my strengths just to improvise.. Instead, he was born in the southernmost Austrian state of Carinthia, a region with lesser-known mountains and a bit outside the ski racing spotlight. After clinching her sixth crystal globe for the overall World Cup title in 1979, Annemarie was aiming for the elusive Olympic gold medal in 1980 that she had missed eight years before. Championships in Schladming in February 2013. He would be the last of the real contenders to go off, an advantage in that he would know what time was needed, but a disadvantage because of the damage done to the course by the first 14 skiers. Nobody went there to see if it was possible or not. The man to beat was the Swiss competitor Bernhard Russi, title-holder after his victory at the Sapporo Games in 1972 and who intended to retain his sceptre. In 1975 he had dominated the event in a fashion never seen before by winning 8 out of the nine downhill races of the season. Klammer finished fourth overall in 1976, third in 1977, and fifth in 1978.[3]. 2-The Thrilla In Manila- Ali V Frazier III 3. Alpine Skiing Legend Franz Klammer Relives His 1976 Olympic Run | ISOS006 In Search of Speed 8.67K subscribers Subscribe 822 Share 182K views 8 years ago For your throwback Thursday enjoyment. Apparently they also threw quite a party at Arnies suite at the Hyatt Hotel to celebrate the wins. So she really had no clue who I was.. Nobody had ever had a string of victories like that. She was always supporting me. Thats a fun story. I was fourteen and was at a friends house. Many still call it the greatest downhill of all time. Nicknamed "Gold-Rosi" in her native Germany, her gold medal in the Downhill at the 1976 Olympics was the only international win in the event during her career. Everyone knows the Kaiser. Challenge in hand, Pochlatko took the film concept to director and screenwriter Andreas Schmied of Samsara Filmproduktion. All Rights Reserved. [1] He spent 13 seasons on the World Cup circuit, from December 1972 to March 1985. He would finish as the top downhill skier a record five times (1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1983). What happened next was the creation of a legend. Rather than retire, he worked long and hard at a comeback. A dozen years later, Fischer had a strong racing product. Even though I had nothing to prove here, its a special victory after that nightmare in Japan. The Austrian was obviously relieved to have blown away the dark clouds of Sapporo that had haunted her. Didier Cuche won his fifth Hahnenkamm last January. While much of the storyline of the film is the tension Klammer felt and his burgeoning romance with Eva, producer Pochlatko knew that the true heart of the film was how he portrayed one of the most thrilling ski runs of all time 45 years later. Newspaper. The antagonist role was cast with Fischer Skis owner Josef Pepi Fischer, the second-generation owner of the famed Austrian ski company. ", In a 2015 interview with Graham Bell for the Daily Telegraph, Klammer attributed his success to being the first downhiller to carve a whole turn from start to finish, contrasting his style with skiers of the previous generation such as Karl Schranz and Jean-Claude Killy who would skid at the start of a turn before engaging in a carve. I was not sure how much time I gained or lost, yet it gave me so much determination that I kept risking everything until the last meter. Chasing the Line screenplay does a masterful job in capturing the pressure he felt that week. Really the whole mountain was shaking when Franz came down, he recalls. I knew I only had a small chance to win, he, told the author. He also holds the record for the most victories (four) on the full course at Kitzbhel. Frank Gifford called this event and he nailed it. I said to myself, Franz, now you have to do something because youre going to lose, he said. 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