What happened next was the creation of a legend. Behind that, though, is a true love story that contributed to his athletic success. At the end of the race he was going so fast that you could see a difference from the previous skiers. Franz Klammer (born 3 December 1953) is a former champion alpine ski racer from Austria. Two-time world champion and former alpine ski racer who dominated the four consecutive seasons of the World Cup in the downhill event, Standing aloof as the extraordinary defining rider in an alpine ski Franz Klammer protrudes among those alpine ski heroes. 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. Klammer, a simple young man, was more comfortable with the C4s. Sporting Legends. I was not sure how much time I gained or lost, yet it gave me so much determination that I kept risking everything until the last meter. Then came the biggest blow. Here is a Pro-Quality transfer from my fathers original master tape and it turned out brilliant and clear. He was the overwhelming favorite for Gold with the home crowd there to watch. Franz Klammer 22Pins 32w othskiracer O Collection by Chris Miller Similar ideas popular now Alpine Skiing Vintage Ski Skiing Winter Olympics Sports DOWNHILL almanach Ski Ski Downhill Skiing Snowboarding Apres Ski Marathon Races Marathon Running Ski Sunday Vintage Ski Posters $59.95 She never came to the races. Most recently this includes the downhill course at Jeongseon for the PyeongChang 2018 Games. While Klammer had been consistent in his success on the skis, Fischer and his team had innovated a new product. So he reached out to fellow Austrian filmmaker Gerald Salmina, producer of the 2014 film Streif: One Hell of a Ride, to manage second unit shooting at Patscherkofel last February. . Finally!! The final event was a parallel slalom and Klammer lost in the first round. Klammer has remained one of the sports biggest fans. And then I came down. The streets across the nation were empty and factory workers received a special break, so they could watch the event on TV with millions of their compatriots. His formidable appearance, his determination on the slopes, and his numerous victories in the weeks prior to his trip to Japan had led reporters to use rougher nicknames, like The Beast, which Maier didnt like at all. Franz Klammer won the Downhill skiing event in 4 consecutive World Cup seasons from 1975 to 1978. The face the public has seen of Franz Klammer for 50 years has been one of a daring downhill ski racer. This is not a good story for a film because you need the emotional roller coaster. And the two met that night at The Londoner forging both a friendship and a partnership in telling the story of ski racing that has spanned nearly two decades. Bernhard and I, we are really close friends and appreciate each others company. Enjoy!! 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. First of all, biopics fail because they are almost like passion plays. And Schmied and Schmidt hit it out of the park. Really the whole mountain was shaking when Franz came down, he recalls. It was a really fun course with all the elements of a good downhill, said Rahlves. 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. They tried to do some kind of a glamour biopic.. Franzs wife said, no, sorry, that is not a story.. He was adorable. 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. Schmied, now a principal in Samsara Filmproduction, had previously produced five feature films in Austria. Ironically, it wasnt his first visit to the little-used speed course on Patscherkofel. It was a huge achievement, as there was so much pressure on him prior to that Olympic race. Four years later, they met for dinner and a private ski lesson. He could really win in this kind of Klammer style. I remember watching that gold medal run. We were lucky to get him here.. Christian Kresse, the tourism chief for the state of Carinthia, wanted to change that and to bring Klammers story to the screen a process that began nearly eight years earlier. The blow-by-blow delivered over the PA system didnt help their nervesKlammer was behind the leaders at the intermediate times. When I went out of the starting gate, I knew I was going to win that race, said Klammer. He is a member of the Skiing History magazine editorial board. Instead, he was born in the southernmost Austrian state of Carinthia, a region with lesser-known mountains and a bit outside the ski racing spotlight. Klammer abandoned the acknowledged optimum track and chased a line that had never been skied on Patscherkofel. His final World Cup race was in March 1985 at Aspen, Colorado. In the 1975 season he won 8 of 9 World Cup downhill races, including his first of three consecutive victories (197577) on the prestigious Streif on the Hahnenkamm at Kitzbhel. We became close friends and it was fun, said Klammer. For Eva, they went with a young actress from Vienna, Valerie Huber. So heres the real deal! The Italian skier, closely followed by a crew from a U.S. network, was proudly wearing his two Olympic gold medals around his neck. And Klammer was winning big on its C4 skis. He was adorable, said Witt of her time with La Bomba. Klammer, along with fellow Carinthia natives Fritz Strobl and Matthias Mayer, form a unique trio of Olympic downhill champions more than any other Austrian state, even the Tyrol. Without this incident, he would have won the overall World Cup title in March 1975, due to a good slalom result two days before at Chamonix, which would have granted him at least a third place (15 points) for the AK-combined of slalom Chamonix / downhill Megve. One of the most exciting sports events I have ever witnessed was Franz Klammer's 1976 Winter Olympic run for the gold in the downhill. He could sense it himself. Ortlieb is a well-known name in Alsace; I think I know some of his relatives, explained Lang, who was also born in Alsace in 1920. After his fourth consecutive season title in downhill in 1978, he began a prolonged slump until the end of the 1981 season. (Surely my fathers tape isnt the only known copy of this run in full?) Some of ski racings greatest characters have attracted even more attention from the media and the crowds, thanks to nicknames invented by fans, friends or reporters. In February, he caught attention with a silver in downhill at the World Championships in St. Moritz albeit over a second behind his teammate David Zwilling. Once more, it was Draggan, working then for CBS, who set up the encounter in a nice restaurant in the French resort. We had briefly seen Witt during our walk under the crowded stands, as she was exercising with her trainer, Jutta Mueller. Four years later, they met for dinner and a private ski lesson. The story of a day like no other We would be right to consider him the greatest downhill skier of all time. One of the most exciting sports events I have ever witnessed was Franz Klammers 1976 Winter Olympic run for the gold in the downhill. So I changed the line completely. The project really came to us with a big burden, said Schmied, echoing Pochlatkos concerns. I spoke about it with ABC studio producer Draggan Mihailovich, a Tomba fan, who organized the journey. And his new girlfriend, Eva, was back home at college in Vienna. Ill call him.. At his peak (Wengen 1976 to Wengen 1977), Klammer won ten consecutive downhills, including the pressure-laden win at the 1976 Olympics. He would win 26 World Cup Downhills between 1973 and 1984. I think it is the most exciting Olympics event I've ever seen. Its in the hearts and minds of Austrians its still there. One of the most important things I got out of sport were friendships, said Klammer. It was a huge achievement, as there was so much pressure on him prior to that Olympic race. Nobody had ever had a string of victories like that. Klammer, age 19, followed this up with a third at St. Moritz and a third in the giant slalom at Mont Sainte-Anne (the only time he finished on the podium in a World Cup Giant Slalom in his career). The downhill was to be run down the face of Patscherkofel, one of the premier downhill tracks in the world. As the lowest seed in 15th position, his task of bringing home . During the call, he also invited Maier to visit him next spring in Los Angeles. It was a brilliant lifetime story of a young boy who had stunning athletic success. Alberto Tomba won gold in slalom and GS at Calgary, then cheered from the side of the rink as Katarina Witt of East Germany claimed her second Olympic figure-skating title. Russi had won the 1972 Olympic Gold Medal in Sapporo, Japan. He has worked as a designer of Olympic ski runs since 1988. He was from Carinthia, the right age, almost the right build, he won a couple of ski races when he was a boy. And hes still a big hero today., Mayer echoed the pride of his Austrian state. 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. 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. Witt was exhausted but happy about her exclusive ski lesson. You grow up with it., The most important week in my life! I mean, I had to come off some of the rollers, the knolls, on the tails, flying up in the air, arms out you know, just out of control, going through the pine boughs, cutting back straight to a gate, towards a fence and then redirect that. In fact, the course contributed to new technology in ski construction, ultimately leading to the parabolic shaped skis now used by most recreational skiers. He won his first aged only 19 in 1973 and including four victories in the Hahnenkamm at Kitzbuhel. The Americans finished their three-month tour 37-18-8, including a 5-4-3 series against . They met later that year in Italy during an exhibitionand then again four years later at Les Menuires, the site of the slalom race for the 1992 Albertville Games. 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 . His fourth victory in Kitzbhel in January 1984 at the age of 30 was a record at that time, which would later be beaten by the Swiss competitor Didier Cuche, yet Klammer remains the only skier to have won four times across the whole Streif course. She may soon compete on the World Cup tour. Innsbruck 1976 | Olympic Winter games. Racing skis had changed appreciably. The last, 11 years later in 1984, at the age of 30, is worthy of a second movie. He won a total of 25 World Cup downhills a record Lindsey Vonn broke last year. 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. Franz Klammer (right) with Bernhard Russi after the men's downhill in 1976. He remembered that day in 1976 as a six-year-old boy, crowded together with his kindergarten classmates watching on a miniature television at school. It was totally, totally quiet. Since the previous season the charismatic newcomer has won virtually every race.The pressure from the media and the public and the hopes of an entire nation are off the scales. Apparently they also threw quite a party at Arnies suite at the Hyatt Hotel to celebrate the wins. Just past halfway he nearly went off the course, but he kept picking up speed, reaching near 80 miles per hour at the bottom of the course. So, the necessary conflict was born. We go for a beer and some nice talks, said Mayer. He would win 31 downhills in World Cup competition. Everybody was in front of the television set. I went all the way up to the top. I think he won for everybody, you know? Her last victoryin the Olympic downhill at Lake Placid in 1980was particularly emotional and a great story, too. So I decided to take even more risks.. 14/11/2009 LICENCE: Creative Commons. Franz KLAMMER. He was always going for the victory. The whole family was sitting in front of the TV. Plus historical audio featuring ABC sportscaster Frank Gifford on the 1976 Innsbruck Olympics and the gold medal Franz Klammer downhill run that inspired this trip. The Olympic Games were in Innsbruck, Austria and there was tremendous pressure on Klammer to win the gold medal. Forty years ago the legendary Austrian took the breath away in the Hahnenkamm downhill before later taking Olympic gold. At the 1976 Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria, Russi nearly retained his Olympic title with a very fast time in the downhill at Patscherkofel, but took the silver medal. With the Super-G, as a second speed race, not existing at the time, Klammer's career was only downhill (apart from a world title in the combined event in 1974), which explains why despite his overwhelming domination, the Austrian skier, born on 3 December 1953 in Mooswald (Carinthia), was never able to compete for the large general classification globe in the World Cup in an era particularly characterised by the success of the Swede Ingemar Stenmark. No. Hes loved by everybody and he had an amazing career. Ever since I can remember, I have been on skis. This time, Alberto could not attend her performance, but Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf was sitting next to me. This one turn, in the lower part, it changed my entire life, said Klammer. Chasing the Line presented new challenges he hadnt faced in producing Streif, which took viewers inside the minds of downhillers who threw themselves fearlessly into the Mausefalle. So she really had no clue who I was.. Ortlieb takes flight over the mens downhill course on his way to winning gold at Albertville. 2-The Thrilla In Manila- Ali V Frazier III 3. At the World Championships from 1954 through 1980, the combined was a "paper race" using the results of the three events (DH, GS, SL). They also required more feeling from the racers, who needed to steer them continuously from the entrance to the exit of each turn. The new downhill skis produced ad hoc for the Albertville course were shorter and narrower at the middle. And there was only one leftit was Franz Klammer. Russi continued; Franz Klammer was in the starting gate. Right: Schwarzenegger and Maierat the FIS Alpine WorldChampionships in Schladming in February 2013. To fully understand Annemaries crowning achievement, its important to look back at the 1972 Olympics at Sapporo, Japan. Suddenly there were 60,000 people in the stadium and the whole mountain began to shake. Klammer did not have classic ski technique, he came out of the gate fearlessly, right on the edge. 3, he performed pretty well and crossed the finish line with a time of 1:46.06, giving him the lead. It was an interesting way to showcase his biggest victory. After that, he was known as The Herminator. 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. ", In a 2015 interview with Graham Bell for the Daily Telegraph, Klammer attributed his success to being the first downhiller to carve a whole turn from start to finish, contrasting his style with skiers of the previous generation such as Karl Schranz and Jean-Claude Killy who would skid at the start of a turn before engaging in a carve. At the last Olympics in Nagano, after a five-day delay, Trinkl was the only Austrian to win a medal in the downhill. And it meant 100% commitment. Alberto Tomba. Originals 01:52. Franz Klammer can be considered the greatest downhill skier of all time having won 25 downhill races, a record that still stands today in the men's race. 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. Salmina brought in his friend and Hahnankemm race chief Alex Naglich to create the racing environment for the film. But repeated attempts have failed. I was kicking in her belly because my mother was so excited the whole time.. Four years later, she missed the 1976 Games at Innsbruck; she had retired from racing the previous year to get married and take care of her dad, who was seriously ill. After his death, she staged a successful comeback. This can only be described as a Kamikaze run on the edge of suicide. An ABC van brought us from the medal plaza to the Saddledome arena. Klammer dominated the downhill event for four consecutive World Cup seasons (1975-78). So that was the important thing., They were married in 1979. He was 84. So his knowledge bank on Klammer comes from the legend and from the longstanding friendship hes had with him. The FULL unedited original legendary run of Franz Klammer at the 1976 Innsbruck Olymps! Franz Klammer, sterreichischer Skirennlufer und Olympiasieger. 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. Hes let his skis do the talking over the years and has won a place in the hearts of Austrians well, to a degree. He would be the last of the real contenders to go off, an advantage in that he would know what time was needed, but a disadvantage because of the damage done to the course by the first 14 skiers. To learn more, please visit www.franzweber.com Show. He was able to hold his line on a difficult course, while established speed specialists struggled. Klammer took heavy risks on the treacherous piste, skied on the edge of disaster and won by 0.33 seconds to the delight of the Austrian fans. About that same time, Klammer had seen a film Schmied had directed about a Carinthian ice hockey player, Harrinator, that had been released that year. For Kaiser Franz, this moment of triumph happened on the 3,020m of the Patscherkofel in Innsbruck on Thursday 5 February 1976. In the end Klammer decided to use his old skis. The 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary were particularly intense, with ten alpine competitions held over two weeks. The mind of a downhill skier - Franz Klammer Innsbruck 1976 | Olympic Winter games. In December, 1998, he raced a World Cup super-G on the fabled course. The 51 minute-documentary Klammer gegen Russi - Das Rennen ihres Lebens from film director Michael Bhler will be available on Play Suisse from 4 February and broadcasted tonight on SRF 1 at 20:05. Patrick Ortliebs win was the first surprise of the mens Olympics events at Val dIsre, yet he confirmed his success in the following seasons with significant triumphs on the World Cup tour, including winning the legendary Hahnenkamm race at Kitzbhel. He won the gold medal in the downhill event at the 1976 Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria. 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. It was just the idea of making something about Franz Klammer., But Pochlatko also saw the challenge. A season earlier in 1974-75, he won an unprecedented eight World Cup downhills. His company BioramaSports.com produces the Ski World Cup Guide and provides TV stations with reports from the World Cup circuit. Klammer started racing at the relatively late age of 14, competing in the winter whilst working on the family farm during the summer after he dropped out of school. Andreas dug into the story with his wife Elisabeth, a former journalist who is now a screenwriter and novelist. What the hell. 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 . Become a member and join a community of people who care about skiing! He also called other sports. Darren Glen 1.1M views 3 years ago Frank Gifford discusses covering Franz Klammer's Olympic. Kids watch Olympic curling for the first time Kids Call. Strobl, who grew up in the southern Carinthia village of Steinfeld, was only three-and-a-half years old when Klammer won on Patscherkofel. And still, he does everything right! We enjoyed watching Katarina claim her second Olympic title after a brilliant show. 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. Thats a fun story. And, once again, Rahlves found himself on page one of the local Tiroler Tageszeitung. I am not a skiing fan. Italy's Gustav Thni defeated Sweden's Ingemar Stenmark in the finals and won his fourth overall title in five years. Associated Press Russi calls the race, which was featured in the recently released film "Chasing the Line,". Alongside the ski track outside Innsbruck, 60,000 fans lined the piste. As expected, Russi put down a solid run to take the lead. Klammer, the 1976 Olympic downhill gold medalist, said he had idolized Sailer, telling the Austria Press Agency, "As a small boy, I wanted to be just like him." Newsweek wrote in 1996 that. Swiss favorite Bernhard Russi, who two years earlier had won Olympic gold in Sapporo, was 13th. Im extremely happy. He won 8 of 9 during the 1975 season and also won 19 of 23, 20 of 26 and 21 of 29 downhills. School playgrounds were quiet and the capital of Vienna was empty. I think he is skiing right now at Sun Valley and I know his ski instructor. TRY A 1-YR INTRODUCTORY MEMBERSHIP IN ISHA! He also called other sports. I really was happy of course, and relieved, that I did my greatest race, or my most important run. 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. But the skating star didnt meet Alberto afterwards. He suffered disappointment at the Sarajevo Games in 1984 with 10th place, and competed for the last time in March 1985 at Aspen with a World Cup record of 26 wins, 45 podiums and 87 top 10 places. He just went down the straight line which normally everybody said its just impossible, you cant stand this. Olympic triumph. It turned out that powerful skiers could exit the turns with amazing acceleration, a situation that caused some spectacular crashes. The media were omnipresent. The risk was too great and the snow was wrong. Klammer said. It would also usher in a new era of ski racing as a global sport while hundreds of millions of viewers watched his Klammer Style run to Olympic gold. [4], Immediately after his retirement from alpine competition, Klammer took up motor racing, and was soon involved in touring car racing, driving Mercedes-Benz saloons all over Europe and racing professionally as far away as Australia. I made a huge jump and thought I would crash, yet I managed to survive and land on my skis. It was always a big goal for me to be like Franz Klammer. And the Olympics were returning to the Alps after a sojourn to Sapporo in 1972. He won 25 World Cup downhills, including four on the Hahnenkamm at Kitzbhel. There is tough and turny Patscherkofel above Innsbruck, site of the 1976 Olympics and the magnificent victory of the Austrian Franz Klammer in a performance that is considered the best single downhill run ever made. And then I knew immediately that ski racing would be my life.. This is where most biopics fail. And that was the main obstacle to tackle before developing a script.. But young Franz loved the snow, skiing to school in the winter and climbing up hills on his own to come racing back down. Franz Klammer 1976 Innsbruck - The Greatest Downhill Run of All Time - FULL UNEDITED!! Nobody had ever had a string of victories like that. Austria in February 2013. I watch it every four years at the Olympics but Klammers run is on my Mount Rushmore of Most Exciting Events I have seen in nearly 50 years of watching sports. Klammer first showed signs of promise in the second half of the 1973 World Cup season, finishing second in the St. Anton downhill behind Bernhard Russi of Switzerland, the reigning Olympic and World Cup downhill champion. Ill never forget how we all erupted when he crossed the finish line. Every 4 years at the Winter Olympics, the premier event is the mens downhill. In 1975 and 1976 he was the best downhill skier in the world. Chasing the Line, it would have been easy to simply pull archival footage to build a documentary story. Thats how I won that day., Photo caption:The race course was rough and the pressure was onwhen Klammer pushed out of the starting hut in thedownhill. Several times he sailed through the air with arms flailing and skis askew, but he always. Ive never seen so much pressure put on one man my entire life, opined ABCs Bob Beattie. [citation needed] He is known as "The Kaiser" and also as the "Klammer Express. 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. Klammer would go on to have an unprecedented career. I asked my father and he said \"i have it somewhere on one of my old VHS tapes im sure of it\" and we did a long extensive search and found it! So they took a chance, thinking what if we did a full-length feature film and just focused on one race? We pitched Franz on the idea, said Schmied. Note: I don't have a model release for this subject Sign up for your one-time free trial issue of, when Klammer pushed out of the starting hut in the, downhill. He watches every ski race men and women. 1. That honor went to a little-known Austrian from Lech, Patrick Ortlieb, who had never won a major event. Eight years after Sapporo, La Proell had enjoyed a superb revenge. Interestingly, none of the well-known technicians on the tour, like multiple overall World Cup champion Marc Girardelli or local favorite Franck Piccard, the 1988 Super G Olympic champion, clocked the fastest downhill time on race day. Photo caption:Hermann Maiers nickname, the Herminator, was inspired at the 1998 Games by themovie character played by Arnold Schwarzenegger. He is not only legendary as a skier, hes just a very great person.. But the most important week in my life! One of his strongest opponents was the very determined Annemarie Proell. Franz Klammer - 1976 Olympic Gold Medal Run franzweberinc 113 subscribers 509K views 13 years ago The greatest downhill of ALL time! Posted by: Dennis S Date: July 21, 2021 08:34PM Frank Gifford called the race for ABC. He won for the nation, for every Austrian skier. Thanks to special accreditations, we were standing right at the rink when Witt started to perform. Now the snow has arrived to give today's heroes a chance to shine on a. He also holds the record for the most victories (four) on the full course at Kitzbhel. He won a fourth in 1984, at the age of 30. Downhill courses are the monsters of alpine skiing: 9,000-foot-long beasts with steep pitches that combine to build tremendous speed. Tim also talked directly to Arnie, who asked him for Maiers phone number. He slid his Fischer C4s back and forth, stretching his legs. 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. ^ Klammer was an alternate on the 1980 team and did not compete. Every set of Austrian eyes were tuned in to ORF across the far corners of the land. And including four victories in the downhill skiing event in 4 consecutive World Cup downhills between and! Give today & # x27 ; ve ever seen about it with ABC studio producer Draggan Mihailovich, a that. 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After his fourth consecutive season title in five years Klammer to win that race, my! Going so fast that you could see a difference from the racers, who needed to steer continuously! Downhill courses are the monsters of alpine skiing: 9,000-foot-long beasts with steep pitches that combine to build tremendous.. The racers, who needed to steer them continuously from the medal plaza the!, its important to look back at the 1998 Games by themovie played!