Everyone got nervous after defending Olympic champion Bernhard Russi from Switzerland set the best time after a nearly flawless run. I liked his way of approaching that. So I won it.. He was adorable, said Witt of her time with La Bomba. Klammer's gold-medal-winning downhill run at the 1976 Innsbruck Olympics was anything but dull. Associated Press Russi calls the race, which was featured in the recently released film "Chasing the Line,". Rahlves wasnt even three years old when Klammer won gold. Having followed her career since her first victory in 1970, it was electrifying to hug her after the press conferencea record-setting athlete who had become a good friend. Klammer was just 19 when he burst onto the scene in 1973, skiing to three World Cup podiums. says Franz Klammer whose hair-raising romp to gold at the 1976 Olympics in Innsbruck is still regarded as one of the . Klammer Express, his other nickname, continued to dominate his sport until 1978, then he suffered a loss of momentum which led notably to him not being selected for the very strong Austrian downhill team for the Lake Placid Games in 1980. And the Olympics were returning to the Alps after a sojourn to Sapporo in 1972. Everybody was in front of the television set. Nobody went there to see if it was possible or not. In the 1976 Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria, the stakes rose. And there is this one teacher who says, follow your dreams, or whatever. Franz Klammer (born 3 December 1953) is a former champion alpine ski racer from Austria. 1. While Klammers Olympic spot was fixed, his teammates were battling for start rights in training. She was one of the first people who came in and she just blew me away, said Schmied. His tiny village of Mooswald, north of Villach, was situated in the mountains but without a ski lift. The screams of thousands of spectators must have been heard for miles. These achievements mark him as one of the greatest downhill racers ever: Karl Schranz achieved 20 wins over an extended career while Klammer won 19 in less than three seasons. We discuss out recent trip to Innsbruck, Austria along with Patricia Frommer (Frommers.com, Frommer Guides) who adds her perspective. At his peak (Wengen 1976 to Wengen 1977), Klammer won ten consecutive downhills, including the pressure-laden win at the 1976 Olympics. One of them had also briefly mentioned The Herminator, a combination of his first name and the invincible Terminator movie character, played by another Austrian legend, Arnold Schwarzenegger. The next one minute, 45.73 seconds would change Franz Klammers life forever. This one turn, in the lower part, it changed my entire life, said Klammer. Klammer came into the 1976 Olympics with three straight World Cup downhill wins and back-to-back Hahnenkamm titles. Possibly yes, he answered with a grin. At his peak (Wengen 1976 to Wengen 1977), Klammer won ten consecutive downhills, including the pressure-laden win at the 1976 Olympics. I hope it lasts forever., Storyline in hand, casting the right actors became the next challenge. The game was the final tuneup for Team USA before the Winter Olympics at Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, Feb. 7-19. The opportunity for Andreas Schmied, along with his wife Elisabeth, to write the screenplay for the Klammer story was both good fortune and a big challenge. He was the gold medalist at the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, winning the downhill at Patscherkofel by a margin of 0.33 seconds with a time of 1:45.73. The first choice to play the role of Franz was Julian Waldner. So that was the important thing., They were married in 1979. He was always going for the victory. But producers chose to recreate the historic 1976 race down Patscherkofel. Ortliebs daughter, a tall racer and 17-year-old beauty named Nina, is now a member of the Austrian C squad after achieving some promising international results. She was always supporting me. His rival, Russi, drew number 3 the optimum start position given weather conditions. Media coverage was moving into a golden era, with more live television and a bigger platform for burgeoning sport stars. 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. [1] The following season he finished second in the downhill standings behind Roland Collombin of Switzerland. Nobody was doing anything. He was 84. Finally in December 1981, after another ski change from Kneissl to Blizzard, he won at Val-d'Isre. For some, that means weekends with the family driving to a ski resort. He was paired with Frank Gifford to call one of the Winter Olympics' most famous ski races for ABC - Austrian great Franz Klammer's electric downhill run to capture gold in 1976. I really admired him his style, his way of skiing, Klammer said about Miller. In fact, the course contributed to new technology in ski construction, ultimately leading to the parabolic shaped skis now used by most recreational skiers. Hes let his skis do the talking over the years and has won a place in the hearts of Austrians well, to a degree. [5], Klammer was a hero to Austrian ski racing fans and also to fans the world over for doing a great deal to promote the popularity of alpine ski racing. Apparently they also threw quite a party at Arnies suite at the Hyatt Hotel to celebrate the wins. Patrick Ortlieb admitted afterwards that he had a French passport lying around somewhere at home, yet he was happy to race for Austria. Newspaper. Rahlves, too, is in a fascinating place in Austrian ski history. 2 Years of Sipping Sports A Sip of Sports. Ortlieb takes flight over the mens downhill course on his way to winning gold at Albertville. If there . No. His greatest moment is certainly still his Olympic win in Innsbruck; however, his entire career remains a great source of inspiration for all the speed skiers that have followed. Chasing the Line. The feature-length film debuted with a screening Sept. 27 at the Zurich Film Festival. Franz Klammer's downhill exploits from Insbruck 1976 Restless Volleyball men's Final Yugoslavia vs Russia at Sydney 2000 Should aliens compete at the Olympic Games Our kids casters pick their preferred team to participate at Olympic Games Kids Call Franz Klammer's downhill exploits from Insbruck 1976 To learn more, please visit www.franzweber.com Show. There is Schladming in Austria, where crowds of 30,000 or more stand along its wild drop-off schuss to the finish. At the World Championships from 1954 through 1980, the combined was a "paper race" using the results of the three events (DH, GS, SL). It turned out that powerful skiers could exit the turns with amazing acceleration, a situation that caused some spectacular crashes. Every 4 years at the Winter Olympics, the premier event is the mens downhill. They have two daughters, Sophie and Stephanie.[1]. Two years later, bothTomba and Witt competed again at Lillehammer. Unable to make the four-member Austrian downhill team for the 1980 Olympics, Klammer could not defend his Olympic title at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid. Only a few months later, Franz told me how he managed to clinch that title after his fantastic run. Thanks to special accreditations, we were standing right at the rink when Witt started to perform. I gave him the local phone number of Austrias media coordinator, who did receive a call from Idaho after Hermanns amazing comeback in Super G. Schwarzenegger was so impressed by Hermanns triumph and his funny nickname that he wanted to speak to him. The hardest thing was when I first ran the course to try and get it all figured out, laughed Rahlves. The fear of many was that the remarkable success of the Austrian ski racer would get passed by over the generations. The FULL unedited original legendary run of. I worked as a ski instructor when I was a student. The Austrian set an impressive record of 62 victories and 115 podium finishes on the World Cup tour in only 175 competitions. ago I remember being a kid seeing this live and thinking how close to death he pushed himself. Game 6 of the 1975 World Series Reds v. Red Sox 4. The risk was too great and the snow was wrong. Klammer said. Books with references and insights into Franz Klammer's career: "White Circus" by Ken Read/Matthew Fisher, "On the Edge" by Currie Chapman/Randy Starkman, This page was last edited on 20 October 2022, at 22:30. Darren Glen 1.1M views 3 years ago Frank Gifford discusses covering Franz Klammer's Olympic. While Klammer had been consistent in his success on the skis, Fischer and his team had innovated a new product. Safety had increased. Maybe nobody knows them, but I think everybody will know them after the movie is out because theyre so good., Klammer and Eva spent significant time with the screenwriters and the actors, especially Waldner. Annemarie Moser-Proell dominated her time as no other skier before and after her. Yet the 18-year-old turned out to be the victim of the political storm that eliminated her teammate Karl Schranz, unfairly disqualified by the IOC at the beginning of the Games for having apparently earned endorsement money as a ski racer. So I decided to take even more risks.. During the evening, Witt expressed her desire to ski once with Alberto, who had just collected his third Olympic title in giant slalom at Val dIsre. Russi was selected to design the course by Jean-Claude Killy, co-president of the 1992 Olympic organizing committee, who used to ski on that part of the Bellevarde slope as a kid. Once more, it was Draggan, working then for CBS, who set up the encounter in a nice restaurant in the French resort. Klammer finished fourth overall in 1976, third in 1977, and fifth in 1978.[3]. Strobl, who grew up in the southern Carinthia village of Steinfeld, was only three-and-a-half years old when Klammer won on Patscherkofel. The pressure intensified again when Klammer drew the 15th spot for his Olympic run. Lineage: Original Scotch VHS 3Hr (1980) SP- Panasonic NVHS-960 SVHS (Gold edition - Mint) - SVIDEO lead - Canopus ADVC300 - Firewire - PC /w/ Sony Vegas with Neatvideo plugin - TMPGENC (Deint - 50fps mp4 3000bitrate) Youtube. They will be captivated by the storyline and the tension leading up to the race. This one was different. Synopsis: Barely 22, Franz Klammer finds himself at the "eye of the storm" when he shows up for the men's downhill competition at the 1976 Winter Olympic Games. And if youre a ski racing purist, yes, you may detect a bit of familiarity in the style of Klammer racing crazily down the piste. Tim also talked directly to Arnie, who asked him for Maiers phone number. Thats what I liked.. Gifford hosted "Wide World of Sports," covered several Olympics -- his call of Franz Klammer's gold-medal run in 1976 is considered a broadcasting masterpiece -- and announced a record 411 Monday . document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Enter your email address to get the news and post directly to your e-mail. Russi vividly recalls the long wait in the finish and the momentum of the crowd that carried Franz Klammer to victory. 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. Andreas and Elisabeth Schied found both. Chasing the Line is palpable. [citation needed], Inspired by his younger brother Klaus, who was paralysed from the waist down after a crash in a downhill at the age of 16,[1] Klammer has established the Franz Klammer Foundation, which benefits seriously injured athletes.[6]. But Franz Klammer's career took an exceptional turn when he won in front of a huge crowd during the Innsbruck Games on 5 February 1976. Above: Maier on the GS course in Nagano. If anybody could do it, its for sure Hermann, I explained with great optimism. Pochlatko tracked down the director to talk about his engagement in telling Franz story. Austria in February 2013. During the call, he also invited Maier to visit him next spring in Los Angeles. The Austrian had become a hero in his country after having won a dozen downhill races in previous seasons. Every set of Austrian eyes were tuned in to ORF across the far corners of the land. Italy's Gustav Thni defeated Sweden's Ingemar Stenmark in the finals and won his fourth overall title in five years. Here the Austrians and Swiss pit their best. Alpine Skiing Legend Franz Klammer Relives His 1976 Olympic Run | ISOS006. Im fully ready for Lake Placid; I have enough confidence for the big day, she told me in January after her win at Pfronten in western Bavaria. It includes the original US broadcast commentary from ABC. But the most important week in my life! A dozen years later, Fischer had a strong racing product. Enjoy!! He was adorable. The World Cup had only been formally established in 1967. Others had tried to make a film about Franz Klammer for quite some time and nobody quite got it correct. He watches every ski race men and women. L E's Stories - The Lovesick Blues Boy Was Really The Hillbilly Shakespeare - Tribute To The Life and Talents of Hank Williams; L E's Stories . So his knowledge bank on Klammer comes from the legend and from the longstanding friendship hes had with him. We enjoyed watching Katarina claim her second Olympic title after a brilliant show. February 18 That honor went to a little-known Austrian from Lech, Patrick Ortlieb, who had never won a major event. Literally, the entire mountain was shaking, said Russi. It was an interesting way to showcase his biggest victory. Instead, it focuses on the microcosm of his relationship with Eva as they are spirited away from the finish in an ambulance before she drives him from Tyrol back to Carinthia the next day. In a statement released by NBC News on Sunday, his family said Gifford died suddenly at his Connecticut home of. She finished second in downhill and giant slalom behind the unknown Swiss teenager Marie-Therese Nadig, who had never reached any major podium before the 1972 Olympics. Enter 22-year old Franz Klammer. My mother put me on skis when I was two years old, reminisced Klammer. Options: Reply Quote Re: Where to find Franz Klammer 1976 Innsbruck downhill video? The other challenge faced by Rahlves was the need to intentionally ski out of control. Somehow he survived, etching his name into history with a .33-second margin over Russi. He showed me plenty of tricks and we had so much fun, she told me afterwards as we sat down to enjoy hot chocolate and cakes. This article first appeared in the January/February 2014 issue of Skiing History magazine. It was a crazed run to Olympic glory, up on one ski then the other, crossing back and forth through the pine boughs, sliding perilously close to the fence. Franz Klammer In 1976, How the legendary Austrian skier won one of the most exciting Olympic downhill races of all time. 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. The older generation of established alpine speed specialists from that timeled by Swiss racers Daniel Mahrer, William Besse and 1991 downhill FIS world champion Franz Heinzerhad great difficulties in negotiating La Face with their traditional style, which was to enter the turns at full speed and throw the skis sideways to change direction. The young Austrian Franz Klammer is considered undoubtedly the favourite for the 1976 Olympic downhill race in Innsbruck. He also remains close to Russi. Franz Klammer gets police protection from an enthusiastic crowd after his victory. Schmied, now a principal in Samsara Filmproduction, had previously produced five feature films in Austria. Like Muhammad Ali for boxing, Wayne Gretzky for ice hockey or Tiger Woods for golf. Theres a lot of character to it where it meanders down the mountain into turns and and really cool knolls and bumps to catch some air.. Frank Gifford who passed away yesterday at the age of 84 was known most as a Hall of Fame football player and the play-by-play man on Monday Night Football. We go for a beer and some nice talks, said Mayer. 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. His company BioramaSports.com produces the Ski World Cup Guide and provides TV stations with reports from the World Cup circuit. And, it needed a bit of a love story. Klammer felt he had to win the Olympic downhill for the honor of his ski-crazy country and the estimated 60,000 spectators who gathered along the race course to watch the competition. Franz Klammers 1976 Olympic Downhill. Do you feel like you've ever designed a downhill course that was too dangerous? [citation needed] He was the defending World Cup downhill champion and had won the three previous downhills in January at Wengen, Morzine and Kitzbhel, and also the previous year's race on the same Patscherkofel course. Franz Klammer and the 1976 Olympic Downhill [], Your email address will not be published. No problem, lets meet tomorrow afternoon, he said. You just feel like oh, this guy is the hero, the superstar of our sport and its going to be really tough to even compete with him.. Franz Klammer has a height of 6'0" (1.83 m). During casting, Schmied and casting director Nicole Schmidt looked for actors and actresses right down to their age and the details of their regional dialect something tricky that changes over time. The project really came to us with a big burden, said Schmied, echoing Pochlatkos concerns. I was so focused, I was so concentrated, just on the run and then half-way down, I was looking at the crowd, kind of now I'd better do something to win the race. 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