Bode Miller Quotes

I went through a period at boarding school when my coaches wanted me to switch to snowboarding because they thought I was no good at skiing. I was too skinny. I had terrible technique. They were saying I should be a snowboarder, and luckily, I resisted.

We should tell our kids to just have fun, participate and not get bent on winning or losing. But every coach, when they say that, they say it tongue in cheek, 'Don't worry about winning': If you win I'll get you ice cream, but if you lose I'm going to pout in the car.

I tried retiring a couple of times and it just didn't really stick so, but at some point enough things conspire together and it does stick.

Join the bold, the brazen, the unintimidated. Join not having excuses. Join the idea that fun is the source of all joy. Join the unwillingness to give up. Join doing things your way. Join not joining. Join that purpose is stronger than outcome. Join your gut. Join the constant challenge of seeking greatness. Join play. Join the hunger to find what makes you happy. Join karma and nature and the effect you have on your world. Join your philosophy. Join something bigger than you. Join what you believe.

The best way to protect your own freedom is to watch everybody else's back. That's the essence of community.

A huge adrenaline rush is usually followed by a pretty low point.

It is not that I don't recognize the danger in ski racing, but that I don't fear the consequences.

Sometimes it's all about the win, sometimes it's about the skiing.

My team has been very unreceptive about the fact that I consistently show them that I train slightly differently than they do, that I consistently show them that I am in better shape for ski racing than anyone else on the team.

I don't put anything in front of taking ski racing and sports seriously.

Eventually I'd like to have a family. I'd like to not be limping around when I'm 50 years old.

Sometimes I'm disciplined, but I like to be a total slacker, too. I party hard, but I train hard.

I'm still having fun and as long as skiing is enjoyable, I'm going to continue to do it.

Obviously, you always want to win, but you want to win by skiing a race that you're proud of and you feel like you really challenged yourself and left it all out there.

It does matter that it's the Olympics. I just did it my way. I'm not a martyr, and I'm not a do-gooder. I just want to go out and rock. And man, I rocked here.

If I could wish one thing for anyone, it would be to not have to do anything his entire life-just go along and when you feel like doing something, do it.

You feel the Olympics and you get chills and nervous and a little scared. You go through the emotional roller coaster at what it's like to compete at the Olympic level and you let that run through your whole body.

I've been myself my whole life.

My goal is the same as every year - to not hurt myself.

At this point in my career, I have the privilege of choosing my partners. In the beginning, you more or less take what comes in the door - or what matches up with your brand. But you're always subject to what's available, especially in the ski world where there are not infinite choices, especially on the fashion side.

One kid's old, used-up equipment is another kid's brand-new, awesome, awesome equipment.

I can take $15,000 a year and raise kids on that. Later, they'll figure out I've got millions, but hopefully they'll have the values to say, 'So what?

There's so many guys skiing so fast right now that you really have to be willing to take a lot of risks if you want to give yourself a chance to win. I'm prepared to do it; it's just a matter of if I can make it work.

That feeling is the same whether you're on either side of the hundredths. Obviously, it's great to win the world championship, but if you put down that kind of skiing, it's awesome either way.

Ski racers are built odd with overbuilt butts and legs.

I don't care what other people's judgments come down to-I care what my judgments come down to.

When I was little, I spent a lot of time by myself. When other kids were in school, I was skiing and thinking about things. I was alone on the mountain.

In some ways, that's the story of my season - when I wasn't making big mistakes, I was winning races and being on the podium. And when I made mistakes I was still fourth or fifth, just off the podium.

I had crashes when I was small and Gumby-like that would have killed me now. I would just fly off jumps and go 40 or 50 meters when I was 6 years old - break skis, smash my goggles and get a bloody nose and go crawl inside for a little while and then come back out and ski more in the afternoon.

From 1999 to 2003 was the peak of equipment in ski racing. Since then, it's all gone in the wrong direction.

I had to think about ankle torsion, where the screws are on the ski, how that affects the forces going into the ski and how the ski bends, your leverage points. It was a challenge. I was having the greatest time, making the mistakes, crashing.

It's nice, being brought up with no money at all. It's just not how I measure success, so that makes it a bunch easier.

But there was no question in my mind that I was gonna still go for it. I was still going for the win. I wasn't skiing for second or third place today, and in the end I think that's probably what got me there.

I simply think things through, and I look at problems. One thing I pride myself on is the ability to connect unconnected thoughts and come up with new, unique thoughts.

Once the season starts for me, there isn't a change in my focus, just a change in my tactics and strategies.

My grandfather was very into horse racing, and I found some of his old journals and got into it from there. It has a lot of parallels to skiing. It's a fun lifestyle, being around the racetrack.

I really am a thinker. I don't do things rash. I know some of the things I've said or the way I act seem rash. But I do take ownership of it. I don't say things I don't mean.

Despite all the pressure and the caliber of accomplishment, I still can honestly say that it's not all about winning.

When you back off, it's easier to do mistakes. For me it's better to ski fast.

Some people say I make mistakes. I just say that this is the secret of enjoying life. I hate monotony. Why don't they leave me freedom of choice? People want to impose choices which aren't necessarily mine. That's the mistake people make.

There's been times when I've been in really tough shape at the top of the course. Talk about a hard challenge right there. I mean, if you ever tried to ski when you're wasted, it's not easy. Try and ski a slalom when … you hit a gate less than every one a second, so it's risky, you know. You're putting your life at risk there. It's like driving drunk only there's no rules about it in ski racing.

I still love racing and the challenge of it, but at some point, you get to a place where you're perfectly happy moving on and doing other stuff.

When you get old, it's hard to tell what's memory and what you've kind of created in your head as memory, you know?

If you're unhappy with the way you played, what's the point?

Arousal-control has been an issue for me since the beginning of my career.

I like to keep my private life private for the most part.

At the end of the day, you have to make sure you're at least listening to what your head is telling you, what your heart is telling you. That's hard to do when there are a million other people shouting as loud as they can.

One of the really important things about the Olympics is, to enjoy yourself, you have to accept that it's different and feed off the enthusiasm of everyone and the inspiration and hopefully that will elevate your performance.

The only mental games in ski racing is the mental game against yourself. Is the whole goal of life preserving your life as long as you can? No. The goal is to enjoy your life, challenge yourself, to sometimes make stupid decisions-which are sometimes fun and sometimes idiotic and sometimes just a big fat mistake you regret.

Some of them I probably would like. Some of my fans probably beat their wives or run over little kids and they just happen to watch me on TV and like the way I ski. Obviously I clearly wouldn't like that person if I knew 'em better.