NOTEBOOK

Because he won the Olympic downhill, everyone wants a piece of Tommy Moe. Make that an exclusive, please.

Tom Kelly, director of media relations for the U.S. ski team, is trying to be diplomatic. Monday night, Kelly had to deny interview requests from Norwegian and German national broadcast networks. “They didn’t take it well,” Kelly said.

Problem is, there’s only one Moe to go around.

Sunday was a whirlwind. Moe didn’t wrap up his day until 10 p.m. He did two separate interviews with print reporters, three segments for CBS and a live spot with CBS’ “This Morning.”

Monday morning, after five hours’ sleep, he finished third in the downhill portion of the Alpine combined. Later, he had to cancel a scheduled television spot with TNT because of a training schedule change for the men’s Super-G.

Nothing like a ski race to mess up a television career.

*

For winning the gold, Moe will receive $15,000 from the U.S. Olympic Committee. “All right!” said Moe, who wasn’t aware of the USOC’s cash prize schedule. “Thanks for that news. That’s pretty surprising. It made my whole day.”

*

Moe, an Olympic champion for less than 48 hours, already pines for the days when he can rest on his laurels.

“I was down in New Zealand this summer and I saw Franz Klammer and Bill Johnson and a lot of the top skiers from the past,” he said. “And they were smoking cigars and having a good time, and I said, ‘That’s the way to do it. Retire from ski racing and go play golf and smoke a cigar.’ ”

*

AJ Kitt, who finished 17th in Sunday’s downhill, did not race in Monday’s combined downhill. He will ski in Thursday’s Super-G, then return home to rest before the World Cup races in North America next month.

“He didn’t have a good downhill here, but I’m not going to give up on the guy,” said Ueli Luthi, the U.S men’s coach.

Kitt has long been the most consistent U.S. downhill racer, and remains the only American to have won a World Cup downhill since Bill Johnson in 1984. Kitt also won the bronze medal in last year’s World Championships.

But even Kitt knows that in America, they only remember Olympic champions.

*

Luthi said Moe’s downhill success will be a tremendous boost for the U.S. team, which has been under fire of late. “It was a great victory,” Luthi said. “It came at the right time. It was one of the first Olympic events, Mrs. Clinton was here. The political side kind of zoomed in on our sport. There were not 200 other sports going on. The benefits will be great.”