After skiing with injuries nearly all winter, five-time Olympic medalist Bode Miller, who skied to an inspiring gold medal in the Olympic super combined, will miss the remainder of the season. An announcement from the Ski Team said it was because of his nagging ankle injury.

“My ankle is still bothering me so I’m going to stay home and get treatment,” said Miller.

Miller hurt his ankle in December while playing volleyball with teammates in Val d’Isere, France. After taking two weeks off from racing in late December and early January, Miller returned to the Audi FIS Alpine World Cup to notch his 32nd victory with a stunning super combined win at the famed Lauberhorn classic in Wengen, Switzerland. He then posted a top 10 at the punishing Hahnenkamm downhill in Kitzbuehel, Austria before battling his way through the Olympics with a historic gold-silver-bronze medal haul to lead the U.S. Ski Team with three of eight medals.

“My goal at the beginning of the season was to get ready for the Olympics and to win races in February,” said Miller. “I just focused on that and I did that. If I wasn’t injured, I would have a made a separate decision about going to World Cup Finals, but that’s not the case. I feel like I accomplished everything I wanted to this season so it’s nice to just be able to relax.”

Miller has not yet decided on his plan for the 2011 World Cup season.

“The Olympics were a good experience but it’s all been pretty positive in my career,” he said. “I haven’t made any decisions about next season. At some point, I’ll sit down with Sasha [Rearick, U.S. Ski Team Head Coach] and see where we’re at and what kind of program we can put together and I’ll make a plan from there.”

Wow. This is pretty cool, don’t you think? Listen to what Senator Leahy has to say about VT’s history at the Winter Games. Note our guest blogger, Roger Brown, in the background.

Thanks for the questions. Here are some responses! Feel free to send in more. And if you missed the Mark Johnson show this morning, you can listen here.

1. You’ve been to Salt Lake in ‘02 and Torino in ‘06 as well as Vancouver. Which was your favorite and why?

That’s a tough question.

The Salt Lake Games were a thrill for me because it was a family affair. I wasn’t working – I just went to watch Chip, my husband, race. I was taken away by the spirit of the Olympics, and I feel very lucky to have seen his race and to have seen him do so well. I’ll remember that forever. It was also special because we were there as a big family and everyone was so excited.

In Torino, I was there mostly to work and I learned a ton from the experience. Being around so many seasoned journalists was kind of a thrill. The weather and food there were great, but the events for some reason lacked the snap of the Vancouver Games.

In Vancouver, nearly every race and competition had me intrigued. All the alpine events were high-drama, the snowboarders were unreal and the cross-country races left me gasping for air.  There were real highs and lows, from the luge tragedy to the U.S. skiers and snowboarding winning a collective 20 medals. The weather could have been better though, and it would have been nice to get in a few more runs at Whistler, and I am sick of Molson beer.
2. Having spent time following the alpine skiers, what did you think about the whole Mancuso/Vonn drama that was being discussed in the media? And how did their coverage and the negative attention affected the women, their relationship and their experience at the games?

What I think is interesting about Vonn and Mancuso is that they have raced together for so long and have such different approaches to the sport and they’ve both achieved a lot of success. They are competitive, but I don’t think their relationship is as caddy as people are made to believe it is. They are simply really different people and not the best of friends. It was very bad luck that Vonn was the racer who fell and ruined Mancuso’s bid at defending the gold medal in gs. The blame for that should fall directly on the organizers who had shortened the interval between racers because of weather. It’s an Olympic race, not a J3 race, and the interval should have been longer for the first 30 racers. Then they could have held Mancuso in the gate while Vonn had a chance to pick herself up.
3. Was there something you experienced while there that wasn’t covered by the press that you would want to share?

I am not sure how much press Petra Majdic got – a cross-country sprinter. In the warm up she fell down a ravine and broke five ribs, then decided to race anyway. By the end one of the broken ribs had punctured her lung and she still won a bronze medal, which is hard to fathom.

Also, we should note that the Austrian men were entirely shut out from the medals in alpine skiing, which is a HUGE deal. Heads will roll in that ski-crazed country.
4. What was the general feel in Vancouver about the Canadian Women’s team celebrations? Were people upset? Did they think the IOC was making a big deal out of nothing?

The general feel was – oops! Probably shouldn’t have done that. I think it’s fine to do celebrate in that fashion after a regular championships, but the Olympics are different. I don’t know. It’s a tough call. Maybe that’s what hockey players do. It wasn’t very sportsman-like.

5. Are you suffering from a curling withdrawl?

I didn’t even get to watch any! I don’t mind curling, but it takes a lot of time to watch. For me, it’s kind of like golf. I can think of a hundred other things to do, but when I do get a chance to sit and watch, I like it. I am not suffering from an ice dancing withdrawal, I can tell you that. Save it for the Ice Capades.

What was the highlight of the Games?

Many highlights include three Vermonters coming home with medals, Bill Demong winning the first U.S. gold in Nordic combined, all of the alpine speed races, the men’s team xc sprint race, Shaun White in the halfpipe, I thought the playoff USA vs Canada game was great (when the US won!) and seeing K’Naan perform at a medals ceremony was also a big highlight.

11:06 a.m. updated post:

I just got off the bus in Vancouver to see the results of the ladies, two-runs-in-as-many-days, giants slalom.

1. Victoria Rebensburg, Germany

2. Tina Maze, Slovenia

3. Lizzy Goergl, Austria

Rebensburg celebrates her first World Cup level win with a gold at the Olympics. She was sixth after the first run. Maze will leave Vancouver with at least 2 silver medals, she won silver in the super g as well, and Goergl will tote two bronze medals home to Austria. She is the ski-crazed country’s only exception to harsh media criticism that the Austrians have fallen on their faces here in Whistler.

Mancuso finished eighth, which is respectable considering. To make it even tougher on Mancuso, she learned yesterday that a friend from Squaw, CR Johnson, a well-know freeskier, died in a tragic ski accident.

Original post:

Yesterday’s first run of ladies’ giant slalom was pretty nuts. Since the Vonn crash/broken pinky and ruined run for Julia Mancuso there have been lots of drama-filled reports and rumors. In my opinion, the whole thing could have bee avoided had the organizers here decided to run the race like an Olympic event, rather than a J3 race. A shortened interval is to blame for the debaucle in which Vonn crashed and Mancuso had already started. The Olympic Champion was waved off course, had to ski to the bottom and get back to the top. By then the course was rutted and the wax was off her skis, and she was no doubt flustered, finishing the run 1.3 seconds of leader Lizzy Goergl of Austria.
The whole thing could have been avoided with a longer interval. It was shortened due to weather, which is not unheard of, but also not ideal for a few reasons. One – the obvious – it doesn’t allow for things like we saw, two, it made it so viewers could not see entire runs, which makes it less exciting from a viewer standpoint.
Other tidbits – I need to jump on a bus in 15 minutes – Mancuso had trouble when she got back to the top because she didn’t have her credential. They almost didn’t let her have access to get back down to the start, and some racers left the gate, pushing her start back more.
It was said Mancuso’s family was cheering when Vonn fell, but they were cheering because Mancuso was already on course and had posted the fastest first split. Meanwhile, the camera was still on Vonn, who was still down on the snow.
OK – more later. Promise.