Olympic Silver-Medalist Christin Cooper Remembers Irrepressible Downhill Racer Bill Johnson from Alpine.UsSkiTeam.com Posted 2-1-16
Such
a glorious, unlikely and eminently sad tale. The stuff of legend. What
an enigmatic figure. A totally rare cat, especially in ski racing.
As
a member of that Olympic Team in Sarajevo, I felt embarrassment and
also pride over his brash proclamations that gold would be his.
We,
the women’s team, felt almost protective of him, like… “Bill…
seriously? You really want to be doing this?” Declaring victory before
taking the start, in ski racing, just wasn’t done. And hasn’t been done
since, has it? And it’s not like Bill started a trend. If you proclaim
it, it will be so. Who has the nerve to defy such odds?
But
Bill had always been maddeningly irrepressible. Day, night, in the
Olympic Village, in your face!! He never let up. Can you imagine Bill,
on that ride, at his peak, in the era of social media?
That
1984, he was riding a comet. His skis were rockets and he knew it. Snow
conditions were perfect (mostly soft) for his loose style and touch and
he just gleefully hung on for the ride, until his confidence grew to
where he couldn’t be denied.
This
is what was so infuriating to his competitors, who were left to
watch on in awe and disbelief. He was defying physics that year, and
flouting convention. That’s what rubbed so many the wrong way. The
unconventional is rare in our sport.
Bill
believed he was destined for greatness. He spoke about it all the time.
And in the end, he wasn’t wrong. I’m proud to have known him and to
have been witness to one of the wildest, most unlikely, rides into
history ever taken on skis.
