Tomba, Old Man of the Mountain, Is Ready to Take on the Youngsters

It should be quite a show on snow--La Wrecka vs. La Bomba.

Talk about a contrast of guile and style.

Austria’s Hermann Maier won the men’s super-giant slalom in Hakuba three days after one of the most harrowing downhill crashes ever witnessed.

Italy’s Alberto Tomba, one of the best gate racers ever, doesn’t ski in speed races because his mother thinks it’s too dangerous.

Wednesday, in Shiga Kogen, ski racing’s star of the past meets its star of the present when Tomba and Maier ski off in the Olympic men’s giant slalom.

It is the only event in which Maier and Tomba are paired, since Maier will not ski in Saturday’s slalom.

Does the 31-year-old Tomba have one more miracle left in his wine cellar? Does the winner of three Olympic gold medals--two in giant slalom--stand a chance against the 25-year-old Maier, who etched his name in Olympic history this week with his dramatic gold-medal victory in super-G?

Maier is almost as good in giant slalom. The World Cup overall leader is also the circuit’s leader in GS. He has won three events this season and finished on the podium in three other races.

Tomba is the aging gunslinger in this showdown. He entered Nagano with flecks of gray in his hair and a tired voice.

“I think the young people today are very fast,” he said, speaking indirectly of Maier. “We have seen new names the last few years. I have been racing for many years--some people say that I still might stand a chance. But some of these young athletes, they race without care. Of course the athletes that are older are rather worried. We fear them.”

Tomba is not the same Tomba. His victory in a slalom Jan. 8 at Schladming, Austria, was his first World Cup win in a year.

Maier has 11 race victories this season--10 World Cup, one Olympic--and it would have been 12 had he not been disqualified for improperly stepping out of his skis after winning a GS at Val d’Isere, France. Tomba has 49 World Cup victories, but has not won a championship since wrapping up the overall title in 1995--a remarkable feat in that he collected points in only two of four disciplines--slalom and GS.

Tomba’s skills have slipped more noticeably in GS than in slalom, although he did manage a second to Maier’s first in a January GS at Saalbach, Austria.

Tomba has also had no luck in Japan. He has never won a race in the country and spent the 1993 world championships in Morioka battling flu.

Then again, it is never wise to underestimate him. He was counted out at the 1994 Lillehammer Games before a breathtaking second run in slalom earned him his fifth Olympic medal, a silver.

Maier isn’t Tomba’s only concern in GS. Switzerland’s Michael Von Gruenigen has two GS victories this year and ranks second behind Maier in the World Cup standings. Tomba is 10th.

“Maier and Von Gruenigen are good,” Tomba said. “But we have to be lucky. Sometimes you wake up feeling not as good as other times. Sometimes the wind is important. Sometimes the weather is important.”

In big events, Tomba always bets on Tomba.

“I believe I have a chance to win a medal here,” he said.

As for his post-racing plans, Tomba is angling his way toward Hollywood.

“Tomba,” the movie, may be coming to a theater near you.

“Maybe I would act, or maybe I would be a film director or a producer,” he said. “I have so many ideas in my head and so many films I would like to do. The first thing I have to do is stop this and think.”

Tomba is looking to work out his rough draft in Nagano.

“I know I can’t live off memories, but I have won everything than can be won,” Tomba said. “Who knows what will happen? I do hope I will be able to come back to this room and tell you that things went well.”

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Alberto Tomba in the Olympics

1988 Gold Medal in slalom; Gold in giant slalom

1992 Silver in slalom; Gold in giant slalom

1994 Silver in slalom; missed gate in giant slalom

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The Stuff Of Legends

By winning gold in giant slalom in 1992, Tomba became first Alpine skier to win same Olympic event twice

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After his giant slalom run in 1988, Tomba led the field by an amazing 1.14 seconds. Just before his second run, Tomba walked over to a pay phone and placed a collect call to his family in Italy to remind his father that he had promised to buy Tomba a new Ferrari if he won the gold.