by DougD » Wed Oct 29, 2014 8:23 am
Totally agree with the evaluations above. Imagine applying Jim Taylor's (apparent) either/or coaching philosophy to a young F1 race driver... the results would be one catastrophic DNF after another. You can't constantly push a F1 car (or a GS ski) beyond the edge of your technical abilities and expect to finish tough courses. If you want to win often, the first requirement is to finish often.
As Spark noted, skiing over the edge is Bode's style and his legend will be one of inconsistency.
That's not to say skiing over the edge can't sometimes win, on even the toughest course. The classic example would be Klammer's Hahnenkamm gold in 1976.
But (subject to Harald's analysis) I believe Klammer had a base of good skills and was perfectly capable of skiing within them. I had the privilege of following him and Peter Schreier around Sugarbush for a day of free skiing, back in the 90s. Klammer was on SL boards and both Austrians were kind enough to take things (relatively) easy so we wannabes could keep up... mostly.
I skied right on Klammer's tails down several easy trails, slaloming through open glades at significant (for me) speeds. He moved with the perfect, efficient grace of a cat... amazing for a fairly big guy. Following his tails felt like water flowing downhill, fluid and effortless. Skiing like that required perfectly honed skills. His gung-ho attitude on race day was based on those skills, not in contradiction to them.