Forty years ago the legendary Austrian took the breath absent in the Hahnenkamm downhill before later taking Olympic gold. Now the snow has arrived to give nowadays’s heroes a chance to shine on a fiendish stageSnow has come to the Alps in time for Saturdays Hahnenkamm downhill in Kitzbühel,the resort in the Austrian Tyrol. Forty years ago this weekend Franz Klammer, the home crowd’s hero, or took the moment of his four victories in the famous race. Five weeks later he won the Olympic gold medal with a performance so breathtaking in its audacity that it started a whole new era in the sport of skiing.
No single event has persuaded so many to choose up the sport particularly in Britain,where skiing was in the process of shedding its aura of exclusivity and reaching an entire generation of converts. The Austrian’s spectacular triumph on the Patscherkofel course opened the era in which Sunday afternoon viewing became dominated by BBC2’s enthusiastic David Vine and his choice of colourful après-ski wear.
Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com