Bode Miller is the most decorated men’s alpine skier in United States history. He also may hold the record for most excuses after the worst finish of his Olympic career.
Miller finished eighth in the men’s downhill in Sochi over the weekend. After dominating two out of three training runs, he was considered by many to be the gold medal favorite. So what went wrong for the 36-year-old? He already said the course conditions changed drastically from training to the actual race. Miller also blamed bad vision.
“I don’t win when the sun’s not out,” he said, according to NBC Olympics. “I haven’t won in five years when the sun’s not out.”
The problem, Miller says, is that he should have gotten eye surgery.
“I was supposed to get an eye surgery earlier this year,” he added. “I have a great sponsor, an eye doctor, and we just never found the time to do it because the race schedule is so tight. We were pretty pissed off looking back that we hadn’t figured out time to do that.”
[WATCH: Bode Miller’s wife reacts to his terrible race]
Vision is obviously critical to a skier who is traveling down a mountain at speeds of around 80 mph — but five years? If Miller hasn’t won without the sun in five years because of poor eyesight, you would think he would have addressed the problem well before the final Olympic Games of his career.
“My vision is critical,” he said. “When the light’s perfect, I can ski with any of the best guys in the world. When it goes out, my particular style suffers more than the guys who are more stable and don’t do as much in the middle of the turn.”
Again, this should have been addressed sooner. And since it wasn’t, it doesn’t sound like a very valid excuse for going from fastest to eighth-fastest between training and the actual event.
