Mahres Not Surprised by Ski Failures

Phil Mahre, who won a gold medal for the United States in the 1984 Winter Olympics, said the lack of success by U.S. skiers at Calgary, Canada, is no surprise.

“People are just too soft,” Mahre said. “There’s just not enough heart anymore.

“The gifted athletes are in other sports.”

Mahre and his twin brother, Steve, are sitting out their first Olympics since 1976.

Phil won the gold in the slalom at the 1984 Games while Steve won the silver in the slalom.

“I expected no medals this year from the U.S. ski team,” Steve said, after the brothers returned from a promotional visit to Calgary.

The federations governing Olympic sports must make efforts to attract better athletes if they want to win more Olympic medals, Phil said.

This year’s performance came despite a record $7.7 million spent on Winter Olympics sports since 1984.

Neither of the Mahres, now 30, spoke of any desire to ski competitively again. But Steve had little doubt about his ability.

“I don’t know that if tomorrow I competed against those there (Calgary) that I would win,” he said. “I would need two to three weeks to work on stuff, and then I think I would be a winner again.”