I was 9 watching this on tape delay in Pittsburgh Pa. My mom let me stay up late to watch the "Olympics." I'd never gone skiing. Looked cool but I was in "Pittsburgh" in the 1970's a football town but after watching this amazing display of courage and determination I fell in love with skiing. I'm 51 now and to this day there are times on the Mountain that I pretend I'm wearing the "Gold' Suit and for a moment I am "The Kaiser at Innsbrook."
There is nothing particularly masterful about Frank's comments as viewed from a transcript, but taken as a whole the broadcast is a masterpiece. The breathless excitement of the announcers perfectly captures the tension, the sense of urgency, and the risk of a skier skiing for his life on the edge of what is humanly possible. The race and the call are electric.
I am 73 and watched both. I consider this just a bit More thrilling than the Miricle on Ice. Hockey Game. Except for the last 5 minutes as the Hated Russians desperately try to score...
Thank God for UA-cam. I was sitting here with my wife watching Lindsay Vonn win the Gold medal in the Womens downhill when I made a comment about the greatest downhill run ever. I was remembering Franz Klammer's downhill run from the 1976 Olympics so I decided to see if I could find a video of this incredible run. I watched this run live when I was 16 but the most exciting things that you ever see you will never forget.
Same here. Incredible performance by a master. And it should be noted that Russi (#3) came up to Klammer immediately after the run and gave him a big hug and a tap on the head. The kind of sportsmanship rarely seen these days. The fact that Klammer had a whole country's expectations riding on him, and being the 15th seed in his group, with a chopped-up course, made it even more incredible. Just electrifying.
The GOAT Greatest race of all time. He was out of control the whole race but won. My idol. Made me fall in love with skiing as a 3 year old. To my Austrian hero, thanks from America/France...
Yeah. It was incredible. I was 20-years-old and home on break from college. I was at my girlfriend's house. We were in the middle of a passionate kissing session and I stopped to watch this race. Although my girlfriend wasn't thrilled, I'm glad I saw it. I'll never forget it. That girlfriend is long gone but the memory of Klammer's unbelievable run is still with me.
A man so brave. He threw himself down that mountain. Barley in control. He rode the fine line between life and death to do what had to be done. That is genuine courage and a single minded will to achieve. I have never forgotten this event. ❤
I agree with all, this has got to be the most intense moment in skiing if not sports in general, a lot to be said, GO FOR IT, take the chance and you'll get the prize, IF your good enough, this was the perfect storm ,greatness meets pressure.... I'm sure Russi has watched this several time and wondered what might have been.... Best Olympic moment in my opinion. No one else could have probably pulled this off but Franz Klammer.
I agree! I was 11 watching on TV, and remember how on the edge of my seat I was, how he almost fell many times, and how at the end, I could finally breath again when the time showed he won. Awesome!
I too remember watching this live. I live in Texas with no snow and I have never even tried to ski. I had heard of Klammer and maybe watched him on ABC at some point before the Olympics.. The performance ranks at the top of my all-time sports events. Klammer delivered when the pressure was on. I have never heard anyone ask him if he ever thought he was out of control. He certainly pushed the limits. This and maybe Secretariat and Ali-Frazier. All classics.
I also remember watching this on TV when I was 14! It seems like only yesterday.He was just on the edge of out of control. It was an olympic moment I have will never forget. Great to see it again on UA-cam.
This is really fun! Reading these comments is nearly as thrilling as having watched the race itself. I was 10, it was my first Olympics, it was WAY past my bedtime, and I was glued to the TV. This is the most exciting individual moment in Olympic history. Thank you, UA-cam!!!
ABC really knew how to do the Olympics. Too bad they don't do them anymore. Jim McKay was the anchor, and he was really great, as were all the sports announcers. This Franz Klammer downhill race was so thrilling, and I remember watching it at the time. I couldn't believe how death defying it was, it was awesome. Out of all the Olympic events I have watched, this is the one I remember the most.
Thanks so much for posting this. I too watched it "tape-delay live" back in '76, and it remains one of the most memorable sporting performances in my lifetime. I remember telling my parents as he was halfway down the mountain, "He's either going to win this thing or literally die trying." Klammer belongs with Shun Fujimoto and Kerri Strug in the all-time Balls-Out Olympic Hall Of Fame.
I too remember watching this live. I live in Texas with no snow and I have never even tried to ski. I had heard of Klammer and maybe watched him on ABC at some point before the Olympics.. The performance ranks at the top of my all-time sports events. Klammer delivered when the pressure was on. I have never heard anyone ask him if he ever thought he was out of control. He certainly pushed the limits.
Funny you mentioned Secretariat: I had just finished watching UA-cam's clip of the '73 Belmont, which inspired me to find other clips of historic moments in sports...and the first clip I thought to look for was Franz Klammer's! That man just THREW himself down that mountain. Unforgettable.
Just treated my 19 year old daughter to Klammer's amazing run and it impressed her. This run will go down in history as the best Olympic downhill ever.
My favorite athletic performance of all time. Never have I seen before or since the mixture of absolute reckless abandon combined with controlled expertise. A "Snow Jedi" if you will!
Arguably the best run ever. Certainly if you were watching it in real time and knew what pressure FK was under. Thrills and almost spills the whole way down.
I tell people about this moment regularly. He needed to set a course record on Kitzbuehl, his home hill, to win. Just after this video ends, an interviewer said, Franz that was incredible what were you thinking? Klammer smiled sheepishly as I recall, and said "I thought I was going to die." That's what it took to win gold that day.
I remember watching that run and it was one of the most exciting things ive ever seen in my life. 34 years later and it still brings chills to my spine.
I was 14 years old when I saw this. I remember having the flu and a temp of 104.3F. Watching this made my symptoms all go away! What an exciting race. From that time forward I loved watching downhill.
In all my fifty-four years, this is without a doubt my most favourite Olympic moment. I don't recall if I saw it live or on tape delay (regardless, I *do* recall watching it at the time without knowing what the result would be) but my heart skipped a beat with each of Bob Beattie's gasps. His (and even Gifford's) commentary helped make this as exciting for the TV viewer as it probably was for many on the course in Innsbruck.
***** Exactly the same reason I am here. Would love it if someone who knows would weigh in on why this is a masterpiece of commentating. Thanks in advance.
Klammers No 15 at the end of the top seeds heightened the suspense all the more. He felt he wasn't fast enough and during the race decided to take a more risky route. And with the Olympic Games at home in Austria there was hardly ever such pressure on an Alpine skier to win after his chain of brilliant successes since December 1974. I was a great Klammer fan back then and very relieved after the race.
@bobke114 This was not broadcast live. For one thing, the TV pool only covered the lower part of the course, since skiers were being sent off at 60-second intervals. ABC brought some of it's own cameras to cover the top of the course, taped their shots of the top, and edited it with the world pool feed of the bottom. I believe Gifford and Beattie's call of the bottom part of each skier's run was done as it happened; their call of the start of each skier's run was done later that day.
Kaiser Franz! I was 16, in 1977? when I went on a school trip to Innsbruck; Klammer was everywhere, billboards, postcards, pictures in bars....and I can see why! You have a hero for every sport, for downhill mine was Klammer, no argument. hop Franz.
I was lucky I watched this at a Holiday Inn in the Pocono Mountains we were on a ski weekend and we got back to the hotel room from Camelback Mountain in time to watch this it was so exciting and fun seeing it the first time and still exciting now all these years later.
And of course, he was watching this from Daytona Beach, where ABC was about to cover, and he was about to witness one of the most amazing NASCAR races ever run, the 1976 Daytona 500. So he witnessed this like everyone else in the USA did, on ABC courtesy of the call of Frank Gifford and Bob Beattie.
You know, I remember seeing this as a kid, and how Klammer looked like he was coming apart at the seams the whole time. It's a weird comparison, but this gold-medal downhill run is what I think of every time I listen to the first mvt of Beethoven's 3rd symphony. That music, properly played, is for the ears what this is for the eyes.
Am I the only one who wonders whatever happened to Bob Beattie? Always enjoyed his genuine enthusiasm for the sport of downhill skiing (evidenced here) at every major televised event. Then he just disappeared, never to be heard from again. Missed him.
GREAT comments here and I echo that sentiment. Nothing will surpass Nadia for me in Olympic moments that stand out and that I'll remember, but this was one heckuva moment! Both the same year too! The call here by Gifford and Beattie was epic!!! Still get chills watching it.
Many of you have said it, and I agree - this is one of the greatest moments in all of sports! If it had been in a movie, you would have said that it was overdone, that real life could never produce such a moment. Franz was simply not ready to settle for second place. Even now, as I watched this video yet again, I found myself expecting Franz to fall. What a competitor!
Frank Gifford admitted years later that his call of Frammer's attempt was videotaped later. He already knew the result as he was calling it. Takes nothing away from Klammer's effort. It was a magical gold medal performance.
You Know how people say; " I remember where I was when so & so did ..." ! Well I was in Sun Valley, working at the Ore House that night. People were eating and drinking and we had brought in TVs so we could watch the Downhill. As we watched the place just stopped and as he progressed it just got a little more quiet and time seemed to stand still. When he went through the traps the place just erupted. We all knew we had just seen a great moment in our sport. What a run, on the edge, all the way.
Still gives me goosebumps! I remember watching it live as a kid and sitting on the edge of my seat the whole time thinking he was going to wipe out about 5 different times! One of my favorite Olympic memories.
The female announcer for the women's downhill just referenced Kalmmer's run, saying that in order to get gold, the competitor (don't know who she was) would have to go all out like Klammer in '76. What an epic run for Klammer. Like you all, I'll never forget. I was 16.
@loungerats - I couldn't agree more! I still gasp at most of the near wipe outs. Watched tonite with my kids who couldn't believe it either! My #1 Olympic moment, also started me skiing.
Rick Cosmo Doesn't really matter how many years ago it was does it? It was one of the great sports moments that you and I will ever see and we were fortunate to be alive in that era. FRANZ!
In addition to everything else, Frank Gifford and Bob Beattie do a great job announcing here! I always wondered how he won since there seemed to be a lot of air under him. Very wild! But Beattie's right. You're carrying some kind of speed at the bottom if you make it.
Televising the DH events was really starting to be excellent. They really showed you what 111kph looks like. Klammer had an almost recklessness to his style. Hold back nothing and get down that hill! You can almost hear his coach telling him that.
The greatest skier of all time. Sadly his younger brother was paralyzed after a downhill crash at age 16. This apparently (and understandably) affected Franz’s skiing performance for several years after.
When I was 10 (in 1960) I spent a week skiing in Kitzbühel. (just for fun. Never competing.) And while I was skiing around in nice and easy hills I saw a boy of 5 or 6 throwing himself fearlessly down the highest alp! (I just gaped. And couldn´t believe my eyes. I thought he must be BORN with skis.) What if it was Kaiser Franz? (I´ve never forgotten it. I can still see him before me.)
In '73 & '74 I was on the Army Ski Patrol in Germany. I had know idea how the European Countries view their skiers. They see their skier like we see our Football and Baseball Players.
This was just so memorable. He was on the edge the whole time. The classic example of letting it all hang out. I was 19 years old at the time. I hate the current olympics. That Sochi thing with the alpine and shoot thing going round and round a stadium for the spectators. BS. That event was meant to be done out in the open range.
At .20 in to the video he nearly looses it as he goes to one ski. I was watching on t.v and this video doesn't show how far back he was on his skis. Klammer was incredible and what he did was for most skiers impossible.
In terms of technique, what was so unconventional about this run? I read that he changed his plan for the last half of the race, in what way did he change the plan?
There is a great documentary about downhill skiers, The Thin LIne, in which Todd Booker, I believe (former Canadian downhiller) talks about Klammer's run. There is one, particular steep portion where Klammer apparently takes a very straight lines in a couple places - I believe at about :32 and 1:32 of this video.
No body can ski like the Austrians. Olympics today are a shallow comparism to cats like Klammer. The days before corporations and greed spoiled the games. Franz was the real deal.
Still the best two minutes in sports.
I was 9 watching this on tape delay in Pittsburgh Pa. My mom let me stay up late to watch the "Olympics." I'd never gone skiing. Looked cool but I was in "Pittsburgh" in the 1970's a football town but after watching this amazing display of courage and determination I fell in love with skiing. I'm 51 now and to this day there are times on the Mountain that I pretend I'm wearing the "Gold' Suit and for a moment I am "The Kaiser at Innsbrook."
There is nothing particularly masterful about Frank's comments as viewed from a transcript, but taken as a whole the broadcast is a masterpiece. The breathless excitement of the announcers perfectly captures the tension, the sense of urgency, and the risk of a skier skiing for his life on the edge of what is humanly possible. The race and the call are electric.
You realize the commentating was from watching a prerecorded replay of the run.
I know virtually nothing about skiing - except how to fall - but remember being breathless when I watched this run. Fearless.
Next to the Miracle on Ice, this is my all time favorite Winter Olympics moment. I still remember how exciting it was watching it at the time.
I am 73 and watched both. I consider this just a bit More thrilling than the Miricle on Ice. Hockey Game. Except for the last 5 minutes as the Hated Russians desperately try to score...
Thank God for UA-cam. I was sitting here with my wife watching Lindsay Vonn win the Gold medal in the Womens downhill when I made a comment about the greatest downhill run ever. I was remembering Franz Klammer's downhill run from the 1976 Olympics so I decided to see if I could find a video of this incredible run. I watched this run live when I was 16 but the most exciting things that you ever see you will never forget.
Great memories for we who watched on TV, Must be FANTASTIC memories for those who were on the slopes!
Klammer's effort was the most amazing athletic feat I have ever witnessed. I has been etched in my memory since 1976, thank you for the post!
Same here. Incredible performance by a master. And it should be noted that Russi (#3) came up to Klammer immediately after the run and gave him a big hug and a tap on the head. The kind of sportsmanship rarely seen these days. The fact that Klammer had a whole country's expectations riding on him, and being the 15th seed in his group, with a chopped-up course, made it even more incredible. Just electrifying.
R.I.P. Frank Gifford.
Gifford once wrote that this was his greatest thrill as a broadcaster.
The GOAT Greatest race of all time. He was out of control the whole race but won. My idol. Made me fall in love with skiing as a 3 year old. To my Austrian hero, thanks from America/France...
Yeah. It was incredible. I was 20-years-old and home on break from college. I was at my girlfriend's house. We were in the middle of a passionate kissing session and I stopped to watch this race. Although my girlfriend wasn't thrilled, I'm glad I saw it. I'll never forget it. That girlfriend is long gone but the memory of Klammer's unbelievable run is still with me.
Klammer wasn't expected to win the gold medal, he was REQUIRED to win it.
A man so brave. He threw himself down that mountain. Barley in control. He rode the fine line between life and death to do what had to be done. That is genuine courage and a single minded will to achieve. I have never forgotten this event. ❤
I remember watching Klammer's feat on TV in Mexico when I was 12. He became a HERO! Thinking he was about to crash any moment. Thanks for sharing!
I agree with all, this has got to be the most intense moment in skiing if not sports in general, a lot to be said, GO FOR IT, take the chance and you'll get the prize, IF your good enough, this was the perfect storm ,greatness meets pressure.... I'm sure Russi has watched this several time and wondered what might have been.... Best Olympic moment in my opinion. No one else could have probably pulled this off but Franz Klammer.
I agree! I was 11 watching on TV, and remember how on the edge of my seat I was, how he almost fell many times, and how at the end, I could finally breath again when the time showed he won. Awesome!
The most courageous downhill run ever. Franz has no peers.
I too remember watching this live. I live in Texas with no snow and I have never even tried to ski. I had heard of Klammer and maybe watched him on ABC at some point before the Olympics.. The performance ranks at the top of my all-time sports events. Klammer delivered when the pressure was on. I have never heard anyone ask him if he ever thought he was out of control. He certainly pushed the limits. This and maybe Secretariat and Ali-Frazier. All classics.
I also remember watching this on TV when I was 14! It seems like only yesterday.He was just on the edge of out of control. It was an olympic moment I have will never forget. Great to see it again on UA-cam.
This is really fun! Reading these comments is nearly as thrilling as having watched the race itself. I was 10, it was my first Olympics, it was WAY past my bedtime, and I was glued to the TV. This is the most exciting individual moment in Olympic history. Thank you, UA-cam!!!
I will always remember this as my #1 Winter Olympic Moment.
#1 moment in all of sports!
When a skier crashes, it looks exactly like what Klammer does in this run a dozen times, with one exception, Klammer didn't crash!
ABC really knew how to do the Olympics. Too bad they don't do them anymore. Jim McKay was the anchor, and he was really great, as were all the sports announcers. This Franz Klammer downhill race was so thrilling, and I remember watching it at the time. I couldn't believe how death defying it was, it was awesome. Out of all the Olympic events I have watched, this is the one I remember the most.
You're right. ABC was really could cover the Olympics.
I've been wanting to see this again for a long time. Awesome Olympic memory, and it shows in Gifford's and Beattie's call!! Thanks for posting.......
Thanks so much for posting this. I too watched it "tape-delay live" back in '76, and it remains one of the most memorable sporting performances in my lifetime. I remember telling my parents as he was halfway down the mountain, "He's either going to win this thing or literally die trying." Klammer belongs with Shun Fujimoto and Kerri Strug in the all-time Balls-Out Olympic Hall Of Fame.
I saw this on TV when I was 11. I'll never forget this; one of the most amazing sports moments I ever witnessed.
I too remember watching this live. I live in Texas with no snow and I have never even tried to ski. I had heard of Klammer and maybe watched him on ABC at some point before the Olympics.. The performance ranks at the top of my all-time sports events. Klammer delivered when the pressure was on. I have never heard anyone ask him if he ever thought he was out of control. He certainly pushed the limits.
Watched this live. Will never forget. My parents went out and bought a nice color TV just for these Olympics.
Funny you mentioned Secretariat: I had just finished watching UA-cam's clip of the '73 Belmont, which inspired me to find other clips of historic moments in sports...and the first clip I thought to look for was Franz Klammer's!
That man just THREW himself down that mountain. Unforgettable.
Just treated my 19 year old daughter to Klammer's amazing run and it impressed her. This run will go down in history as the best Olympic downhill ever.
Goosebumps, every time.
Perfectly timed was this great performance, going last and having to come from behind, not to mention doing with abandon. Electric indeed!
My favorite athletic performance of all time. Never have I seen before or since the mixture of absolute reckless abandon combined with controlled expertise. A "Snow Jedi" if you will!
I was kid watching this almost 40 years ago on wide World of Sports. I got the chills watching this. Franz Klammer is the benchmark for the downhill!
Arguably the best run ever. Certainly if you were watching it in real time and knew what pressure FK was under. Thrills and almost spills the whole way down.
I tell people about this moment regularly. He needed to set a course record on Kitzbuehl, his home hill, to win. Just after this video ends, an interviewer said, Franz that was incredible what were you thinking? Klammer smiled sheepishly as I recall, and said "I thought I was going to die." That's what it took to win gold that day.
I remember watching that run and it was one of the most exciting things ive ever seen in my life. 34 years later and it still brings chills to my spine.
I was 14 years old when I saw this. I remember having the flu and a temp of 104.3F. Watching this made my symptoms all go away! What an exciting race. From that time forward I loved watching downhill.
In all my fifty-four years, this is without a doubt my most favourite Olympic moment. I don't recall if I saw it live or on tape delay (regardless, I *do* recall watching it at the time without knowing what the result would be) but my heart skipped a beat with each of Bob Beattie's gasps. His (and even Gifford's) commentary helped make this as exciting for the TV viewer as it probably was for many on the course in Innsbruck.
Beattie and Gifford actually recorded the while watching a tape of the run hours after it happened
I came here today to hear one of Frank Giffords most memorable commentaries to remember his life.
***** Exactly the same reason I am here. Would love it if someone who knows would weigh in on why this is a masterpiece of commentating. Thanks in advance.
melraelee I love Frank but in honesty he barely talks, and at the beg he stumbled a hair+
deezynar Me too.Thank you Frank.
Klammers No 15 at the end of the top seeds heightened the suspense all the more.
He felt he wasn't fast enough and during the race decided to take a more risky route. And with the Olympic Games at home in Austria there was hardly ever such pressure on an Alpine skier to win after his chain of brilliant successes since December 1974. I was a great Klammer fan back then and very relieved after the race.
One of my favorite Olympic memories.
@bobke114 This was not broadcast live.
For one thing, the TV pool only covered the lower part of the course, since skiers were being sent off at 60-second intervals. ABC brought some of it's own cameras to cover the top of the course, taped their shots of the top, and edited it with the world pool feed of the bottom.
I believe Gifford and Beattie's call of the bottom part of each skier's run was done as it happened; their call of the start of each skier's run was done later that day.
Kaiser Franz! I was 16, in 1977? when I went on a school trip to Innsbruck; Klammer was everywhere, billboards, postcards, pictures in bars....and I can see why! You have a hero for every sport, for downhill mine was Klammer, no argument. hop Franz.
I was lucky I watched this at a Holiday Inn in the Pocono Mountains we were on a ski weekend and we got back to the hotel room from Camelback Mountain in time to watch this it was so exciting and fun seeing it the first time and still exciting now all these years later.
Formula 1 champion Jackie Stewart called this the greatest solo athletic performance he had ever witnessed. May still be.
And of course, he was watching this from Daytona Beach, where ABC was about to cover, and he was about to witness one of the most amazing NASCAR races ever run, the 1976 Daytona 500. So he witnessed this like everyone else in the USA did, on ABC courtesy of the call of Frank Gifford and Bob Beattie.
Oh man!! This is a man with a heart on the right place! I have goosebumps all over my body.
You know, I remember seeing this as a kid, and how Klammer looked like he was coming apart at the seams the whole time. It's a weird comparison, but this gold-medal downhill run is what I think of every time I listen to the first mvt of Beethoven's 3rd symphony. That music, properly played, is for the ears what this is for the eyes.
Am I the only one who wonders whatever happened to Bob Beattie? Always enjoyed his genuine enthusiasm for the sport of downhill skiing (evidenced here) at every major televised event. Then he just disappeared, never to be heard from again. Missed him.
GREAT comments here and I echo that sentiment. Nothing will surpass Nadia for me in Olympic moments that stand out and that I'll remember, but this was one heckuva moment! Both the same year too! The call here by Gifford and Beattie was epic!!! Still get chills watching it.
Many of you have said it, and I agree - this is one of the greatest moments in all of sports! If it had been in a movie, you would have said that it was overdone, that real life could never produce such a moment. Franz was simply not ready to settle for second place. Even now, as I watched this video yet again, I found myself expecting Franz to fall. What a competitor!
Frank Gifford admitted years later that his call of Frammer's attempt was videotaped later. He already knew the result as he was calling it. Takes nothing away from Klammer's effort. It was a magical gold medal performance.
Definitely one of my favorite sports memories
Simply.....incredible.
You Know how people say; " I remember where I was when so & so did ..." ! Well I was in Sun Valley, working at the Ore House that night. People were eating and drinking and we had brought in TVs so we could watch the Downhill. As we watched the place just stopped and as he progressed it just got a little more quiet and time seemed to stand still. When he went through the traps the place just erupted. We all knew we had just seen a great moment in our sport. What a run, on the edge, all the way.
Ran into Klammer a few year's ago at Pepe's Vail. He looks like he can still make a run like this. Was doing shots with the singer and the crowd
Still gives me goosebumps! I remember watching it live as a kid and sitting on the edge of my seat the whole time thinking he was going to wipe out about 5 different times! One of my favorite Olympic memories.
The female announcer for the women's downhill just referenced Kalmmer's run, saying that in order to get gold, the competitor (don't know who she was) would have to go all out like Klammer in '76. What an epic run for Klammer. Like you all, I'll never forget. I was 16.
@loungerats - I couldn't agree more! I still gasp at most of the near wipe outs. Watched tonite with my kids who couldn't believe it either! My #1 Olympic moment, also started me skiing.
it's still an incredible run after 28 years
38 years.lol
right..I realized that afterwards..
Rick Cosmo Doesn't really matter how many years ago it was does it? It was one of the great sports moments that you and I will ever see and we were fortunate to be alive in that era. FRANZ!
ty man..SRV is my all-time fave
In addition to everything else, Frank Gifford and Bob Beattie do a great job announcing here!
I always wondered how he won since there seemed to be a lot of air under him. Very wild!
But Beattie's right. You're carrying some kind of speed at the bottom if you make it.
If Historical records are lost, word of mouth will remember the name of Franz Klammer.
***** Run of the century. Highlight of that games.
The great job announcing by Gifford and Beattie was actually done 6 hours after the event in a studio. Think voiceover.
True! I saw the Gifford interview about it recently. Apparently they were half drunk too! hahahahha Still a great call.
Televising the DH events was really starting to be excellent. They really showed you what 111kph looks like. Klammer had an almost recklessness to his style. Hold back nothing and get down that hill! You can almost hear his coach telling him that.
The greatest skier of all time. Sadly his younger brother was paralyzed after a downhill crash at age 16. This apparently (and understandably) affected Franz’s skiing performance for several years after.
@AllBobsAllTheTime from what I understand, yes. I THINK this was made to seem as if it were the last run of the event, and it wasn't.
When I was 10 (in 1960) I spent a week skiing in Kitzbühel. (just for fun. Never competing.) And while I was skiing around in nice and easy hills I saw a boy of 5 or 6 throwing himself fearlessly down the highest alp! (I just gaped. And couldn´t believe my eyes. I thought he must be BORN with skis.) What if it was Kaiser Franz? (I´ve never forgotten it. I can still see him before me.)
Legend.
Einfach herrlich!
In '73 & '74 I was on the Army Ski Patrol in Germany. I had know idea how the European Countries view their skiers. They see their skier like we see our Football and Baseball Players.
This was just so memorable. He was on the edge the whole time. The classic example of letting it all hang out. I was 19 years old at the time. I hate the current olympics. That Sochi thing with the alpine and shoot thing going round and round a stadium for the spectators. BS. That event was meant to be done out in the open range.
@ellandelachapelle I think it wasn't him (he was a 7-year old Carinthian peasant boy at the time). But it's true that he was born to ski ;-)
At .20 in to the video he nearly looses it as he goes to one ski. I was watching on t.v and this video doesn't show how far back he was on his skis. Klammer was incredible and what he did was for most skiers impossible.
In terms of technique, what was so unconventional about this run? I read that he changed his plan for the last half of the race, in what way did he change the plan?
There is a great documentary about downhill skiers, The Thin LIne, in which Todd Booker, I believe (former Canadian downhiller) talks about Klammer's run. There is one, particular steep portion where Klammer apparently takes a very straight lines in a couple places - I believe at about :32 and 1:32 of this video.
Dish Waterhands i think the parts in question are from 0:47 to 1:00, around 1:20 and around 1.35
great run and memory... love Beattie but could have done without the Gifford...
By the way, he knew what he had to do.
Kaiser Franz!
@talma16
Absolutely. On the edge of disaster
Well, Denver, maybe you'll get an Olympic chance again in say, 2074
No body can ski like the Austrians. Olympics today are a shallow comparism to cats like Klammer. The days before corporations and greed spoiled the games. Franz was the real deal.
I agree the call on NBC sucked. They turn everything into a sound bite and take all the thrill out of the event. Corporate sponsorship my a@@
🪖
I agree, this race here was the most exciting race event of all time