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Andy Mink

Everyone loves spring skiing but not in January
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It's amazing to see how technology drove form. In the earlier videos his skis were off the ground as much as they were on it. His timing of when to drive them back to the snow to complete the turn is very interesting to watch. Cool video.
 

markojp

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For some reason, he and Bjorn Borg were my icons in the 70s, too. I really don't know why ... I mean, it kind of makes sense now, but I was a (strange) 9yo American girl....

Ha! Get in line behind half the girls I grew up with. ogsmile
 

markojp

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I don't necessarily buy the going through bamboo is faster... Trouble was they shattered, but rarely broke as they were all wrapped with colored tape. You could get seriously hung up and slowed down. Occassionally there'd be ' a gate' that would be worth trying to shin off, but not too often. I do think that as courses deteriorated and the spudded holes widened and gated leaned a bit, finding a better solution for course maintenance was ample enough cause on its own.
 

James

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For some reason, he and Bjorn Borg were my icons in the 70s, too. I really don't know why ... I mean, it kind of makes sense now, but I was a (strange) 9yo American girl....
Well the only thing that's changed is the "9 year old" part, which is good... ogsmile :snowball:

I saw Borg play at the US open in the old Forest Hills concrete stadium. Where the Beatles once played and lots of other bands. I'm pretty sure that year that had switched from grass to har true, that green clay like substance.
Borg was a machine. Return, return, return. No expression, never distracted. It was just how long before the other guy lost. I wasn't a huge fan of the machine style, but he was pretty damn cool with the headband, the long hair, and the stubble beard. And there was nothing negative about him.(Connors was a dork- and a 1st class ahole) You really could have just plucked Borg out, changed the clothes, and thrown him into a Western movie.
Like this-
IMG_2309.JPG

Bob Dylan in Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, 1973
 

Wolfski

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I don't necessarily buy the going through bamboo is faster... Trouble was they shattered, but rarely broke as they were all wrapped with colored tape. You could get seriously hung up and slowed down. Occassionally there'd be ' a gate' that would be worth trying to shin off, but not too often. I do think that as courses deteriorated and the spudded holes widened and gated leaned a bit, finding a better solution for course maintenance was ample enough cause on its own.
This was a risk that a few racers took back then as there was very little padding on the shins and there was always the chance some of the sticks were those "TNT" (?) bamboo. I used to cringe as a Coach watching some folks flipping the broken stick over during training to save time but I never missed carrying a spud down the track.
 

crgildart

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What I remember is Borg used to stand as far back as possible, practically with his butt against the the fence between the court and seats. Alternately, Chang stood ON the service fault line hahahahaha..
 
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SBrown

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Well the only thing that's changed is the "9 year old" part, which is good... ogsmile :snowball:

I saw Borg play at the US open in the old Forest Hills concrete stadium. Where the Beatles once played and lots of other bands. I'm pretty sure that year that had switched from grass to har true, that green clay like substance.
Borg was a machine. Return, return, return. No expression, never distracted. It was just how long before the other guy lost. I wasn't a huge fan of the machine style, but he was pretty damn cool with the headband, the long hair, and the stubble beard. And there was nothing negative about him.(Connors was a dork- and a 1st class ahole) You really could have just plucked Borg out, changed the clothes, and thrown him into a Western movie.
Like this-
View attachment 26077
Bob Dylan in Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, 1973

:P:ogcool:

I saw Borg in the early 90s when he returned onto Connors' Nuveen (Seniors) Tour. I think it might have been the first time Borg had played competitively in years (except for that strange little comeback he did at Monte Carlo), anyway it was the first time I had seen him in forever. He looked just the same. I realized how much he and Graf reminded me of each other, physically at least. They were probably two of the very very best athletes ever to to play tennis.

The funny thing is that I look back, and he was, like, late 30s? I was so impressed how good he looked! but I was in my 20s then ... haha. Late 30s was half dead!
 

Muleski

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I remember watching a lot of Borg, when a lot of tennis was on TV, with my mom, and my now wife {who played #1 on her college team}. Not sure who had the bigger crush. And we'd typically see one or two tour events a year and hope to catch him. Of course my favorite was the slightly younger McEnroe.

A few years ago we got invited to this deal at the Tennis Hall of Fame, guests of a friend who I will now be kidding as having been "ranked like 700" during his ATP days. He's actually a good friend of McEnroe's.

Borg was there. And he looked like he was about 42......not the 56 or 58 that he was. I'm two years older, and not ancient, but the guy clearly had good genes!

When we were at dinner, I told me friend that I had forgotten how young Borg was when he walked away. I think he was 25? I asked how good he could have been, and our friend said he could have been the best ever. Hmm. He went on to say that his mental game was the best. I asked what the best part of his game was and he said "probably his feet, legs and movement." On another planet.

I thought it was the hair, headband and scruffy beard.

Thread drift...but still a Swede!
 
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James

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I wish we could give Andy Murray a transfusion of Borg. Stop Murray's whining and moping. The antithesis of Borg. Maybe get him to put on a decent shirt too. A sponsoship by Gillette might help. Scruffy worked for Borg, not for Murray.

"Half dead" at 32, lol. Well the good thing about always only being half dead is it becomes Zeno's Paradox and you never get there.
 

Swede

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The Swedish thread.
Borg/Mcenroe soon hits the cinemas over here:


Edit: Björn's son, Leo Borg, plays Björn as a kid.
 
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Swede

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As a swedish sidenote: Sara Hector surprised quite a few today over here, finishing 12th in the Swedish champ's in triathlon -- sprint.

Swim 750 m, bike 20 km run 5 km.
 
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Swede

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So, just came home from the premiere of Borg/Mcenroe. Awesome! See it if you get the chance. Beatifully shot. Great acting! Not an easy story to pull off in a movie, but this one beats reality.
 

SkiSpeed

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I saw "The Great" Stenmark ski GS at the 1979 WC Olympic Warm Up races at Lake Placid; I was about halfway down the course working w/a member of the ski patrol as a gatekeeper. All I remember was how quiet and fast his skiing was. Everyone else was grinding and hacking their way down the course; he just flew, effortlessly. Wow. It was the only time I ever saw him ski in person and the impression has lasted to this day.
 

K2 Rat

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I saw "The Great" Stenmark ski GS at the 1979 WC Olympic Warm Up races at Lake Placid; I was about halfway down the course working w/a member of the ski patrol as a gatekeeper. All I remember was how quiet and fast his skiing was. Everyone else was grinding and hacking their way down the course; he just flew, effortlessly. Wow. It was the only time I ever saw him ski in person and the impression has lasted to this day.

I was also there that day and, yes, Stenmark was awesome. The only other time I got to see him was his gold medal SL performance at the '80 Olympics. What I remember most about the '79 GS was Phil Mahre breaking his leg right in front of me. They got him off the course and next to the short fence I was standing at -- was looking right over the fence at his grimacing face. Wish I had a camera back then. Of course, he came back quickly to a silver medal in that '80 SL. The really sad thing about that weekend was Leonardo David of Italy. If you don't remember that name....google it. He was an 18 year old and one of the most promising racers with 4 podiums and one win on the World Cup that year. I can vividly remember him crashing as he approached the finish line, slid the finish, got up and then collapsed on the ground. He was in a coma for years and then passed away. He fell in an DH shorty before his last race and was complaining of dizziness. If i recall correctly, he passed out in the shower in the days leading up to the Lake Placid DH, but was cleared to ski by team doctors. I recall a lawsuit was brought, but don't know the result. Seems also like the coaches put him into speed a bit too early A very sad day.


On the bright side of the DH, I walked up to Werner Grissman in the finish corral ( pretty relaxed back then !) and asked him for his bid. He took it off and handed it me. Speaking of bibs ( sorry, I am digressing from the Stenmark topic here), I asked Chip knight the same question OUTSIDE the finish at Birds of Prey several years ago. He said his bib that day was spoken for but if I gave him my name and address, he would mail me one. A month later a package containing his autographed Kranjska Gora bib arrived from Europe. An unbelievably nice gesture !
 

4ster

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1979 was a good year for Stenmark (the Great). I was at Heavenly Valley to witness his 9th straight GS win of the season that year. He was in 3rd place after the first run only to make one of his remarkable comeback second runs to win with a nearly 2 second advantage!

This photo from that day has hung on my walls ever since...
Stenmark 79'.jpg


I didn't get his bib but I think I did snag a few gate panels ;)
 
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Muleski

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1979 was a good year for Stenmark (the Great). I was at Heavenly Valley to witness his 9th straight GS win of the season that year. He was in 3rd place after the first run only to make one of his remarkable comeback second runs to win with a nearly 2 second advantage!

This photo from that day has hung on my walls ever since...
View attachment 30067

I didn't get his bib but I think I did snag a few gate panels ;)

SUCH a great story and great pic. Thanks for posting!

Anybody ever see Stenmark wear a helmet? I don't think he did after his DH training crash. Never have seen. picture of him racing in one. Of course, he was not alone. Nobody in that day wore a helmet in GS, let alone SL.
 

4ster

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SUCH a great story and great pic. Thanks for posting!

Anybody ever see Stenmark wear a helmet? I don't think he did after his DH training crash. Never have seen. picture of him racing in one. Of course, he was not alone. Nobody in that day wore a helmet in GS, let alone SL.

Only in a SL helmet late in his career.
stenmark1.jpg


I think Tomba was the first to wear one for GS & mostly cuz he was taking the gates on the center of his forehead. This was a bit after Stenmark retired IIRC.
 

Muleski

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Only in a SL helmet late in his career.
View attachment 30068

Thanks....learn something new every day! Would have bet against that, and lost!

And that's Calgary, 1984. He was still racing four, five years later? Of course it was when SL became heavily "armored!" Bet the main reason he wanted that helmet was for the chin guard.

Edit: This Dummy of a poster failed to recall two facts. Calgary was 1988. And, perhaps more importantly, Stenmark was ineligible for the 1984 games due to Avery Brundage and the IOC's stupid stance on amateurism. Stenmark was determined to be a pro. AS were all of the others, BTW.
 
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4ster

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Not sure if that's 84' :huh:. Calgary Olympics where in 88'. I found that photo on the web.

I did see Stenmark race a few more times. His only DH in 81' at none other than the fame Hahnenkahm in Kitzbuhel, Austria where he did wear a helmet. I remember him standing up where most of the other racers were in a tuck & still ending up in I think 37th place. Don't remember if the race was before or after his training crash.

I saw him again racing SL at world cup finals in 85' at Heavenly (no helmet)
Stenmark 85'.jpg


& then again in 86', one of the few to still hike the course. Can't remember if he wore a helmet that day but I don't think so.
Stenmark 86'.jpg


I just noticed that #12 is the same number he wore in the 79' GS.
 

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