Franz Klammer - 1976 Olympic Downhill Gold Medal performance

[Rambo]

Anybody remember this? I remember watching it live on TV as a kid and it was an electrifying performance.

 

[Warp Daddy]

One of the single most electrifying moments in sport -----------------made me want to take up skiing. The Kaiser was on the edge of disaster most of the run .

 

[gmcunni]

1976 olympics, i fell in love with skiing and dorothy hamill

 

[SIKSKIER]

This is what cemented my love of skiing.When I think about what really excited me about sliding down a mountain,that is it in a nutshell.Major major stoke!Thanks.

 

[Harvey]

After that performance....we made a verb out of it.

Skiing on the edge, carrying too much speed, skis chattering, near disaster... became "Franz Klammering."

"Did you see that guy Franz Klammering down that hill?"

 

[Puck it]

That is the definition of on the "EDGE"!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[JimG.]

One of the most exciting sports performances ever.

On the edge from start to finish.

I remember watching this run live at my buddy Rick's house. Rick has never skiied a day in his life, has no use for it. But he was so overcome by Klammer's run that he broke his glass coffee table banging his fists on it from the excitement.

 

[Philpug]

Here are some vintage DH boards.For a point of reference, the 710-Comps are 200's.

 

[polski]

THANK YOU Rambo for posting that. About a year ago I searched for video of this run and only could find snippets, not the whole thing start to finish. To this day this remains a strong contender for greatest sporting event I ever watched live on TV.

In 1979 I went to Whiteface on a school trip. The 1980 Olympic time trials were being held while we were there. At one point I was in line for the Little Whiteface lift and some shmuck cut up the line, stepping on the back of my skis in the process. (Cue annoying lift line behavior thread.) He kept going until he reached a woman friend. Another minute or so and they rounded a corner in the corral and all of a sudden all these paparazzi jump out and start taking his photo. That's when I noticed the Austrian ski team patches on his suit. I looked at his face and realized this shmuck was Franz F'ing Klammer.

 

[faceplant]

yep that was amazing
one of the greatest

but i also remember him calling Billy Johnson a 'nose picker'.....
then Billy beat his a$$ for the gold
gotta love those ex-juvy delinquents!
LOL!

http://www.skinet.com/ski/image/2008/02/golden-olympic-moments-bill-johnson

 

[catskills]

Interesting Franz klammer video that starts off with the Herminator Nagano crash where the next day he won two gold medals

Click here for Franz Klammer medals

 

[Flan]

Whoa...the best $ money run ever. To this day when I think of the Winter Olympics that run comes to mind. Somewhere I have a huge scrapbook of the '76 Olympics. Guess I should go find it...

 

[x10003q]

yep that was amazing
one of the greatest

but i also remember him calling Billy Johnson a 'nose picker'.....
then Billy beat his a$$ for the gold
gotta love those ex-juvy delinquents!
LOL!

http://www.skinet.com/ski/image/2008/02/golden-olympic-moments-bill-johnson

The nose picker line was on the back page of some Austrian ski rag and was in huge bold type in German -"Nasen Bohrer". I still call my brother a nasen bohrer and we both laugh remembering the arrogant Klammer and his comments. I am smiling now thinking about it. Klammer came in 10th about 1.5 seconds behind Johnson.

Klammer's run in 1976 had us looking for drop offs at Vernon Valley/GG where we would launch at "high speed" while lifting one leg. His name was tossed around on the ski team the way you would sarcastically call a fast driver Mario (Andretti).

 

[jaywbigred]

Wasn't alive for this and didn't know anything about it, but man, Klammer was on edge that whole time. Looked like he could've wrecked almost at any point. Wow. Balls out.

 

[skidmarks]

They say Klammer lifted the bar on the DH. From then on to win you had to go balls out.

 

[mikestaple]

This is the first Olympics I remember and it was absolutely the highlight. A run for the ages.

 

[JimG.]

Here are some vintage DH boards.For a point of reference, the 710-Comps are 200's.

Comp710 is a slalom ski.

That was the hot ski to own in the late 70's.

 

[Rambo]

Amazing time by Klammer: (won by 0.33 seconds)
1:45:73
2nd place Bernhard Russi (1972 Gold Medalist)
1:46:06
3rd place:
1:46:59
4th place:
1:46:69
Perhaps one of the greatest sports performances of all time!

 

[catskills]

Amazing time by Klammer: (won by 0.33 seconds)

That would be 29 feet if Franz was going 60MPH. :beer:

 

[bigbog]

Anybody remember this? I remember watching it live on TV as a kid and it was an electrifying performance....

Rambo,
If the abandonment of control aspect made it electrifying....you would've equally(well...maybe not.. :lol gotten a real thrill of my first time on skis...on Snowshed..on a Thanksgiving afternoon in early 80s. Stance was kind of similar...in ways...to Franz's...LOL.
$.01