Readers Respond: Mahre's Modesty

Photo top: Phil Mahre carries bamboo between his knees, slowing his pace on the way to winning a silver in the 1980 Lake Placid Olympic slalom.

In your great story on the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics (“The Amateur Hours,” January-February 2025), you note that Phil Mahre carried a “bamboo stick” between his feet for three gates in the slalom and you quote him as saying that “there’s no question that I was outskied on the second run.” But I beg to differ. Mahre was being too modest. Tony Blair (1958 Canadian junior Alpine ski champion) and I watched the slalom from close to the edge of the course about two-thirds of the way up on the “first run” side, but we could see the second run clearly on the other side of the hill. As soon as we saw Mahre carrying that “bamboo stick” between his legs, we knew it was over for him—at least for the gold. It was clear to us that he had been slowed down by more than the 1.08 seconds by which Stenmark won the run [and therefore the gold]. It’s worth noting that less than a year before, Mahre had fractured his ankle badly at a pre-Olympic giant slalom. At first, it wasn’t clear that he was going to be able to walk properly again, let alone ski and race. A metal plate and seven screws in his ankle did the job, however, and he followed up his 1980 silver medal with a gold at Sarajevo in 1984.

Ivo Krupka
Former chair
Canadian Ski Hall of Fame and Museum
Ottawa, Canada

1980 Lake Placid Rewind

I wanted to compliment you on the article on the Lake Placid 1980 Olympics (“The Amateur Hours,” January-February 2025) It brought back memories. As a new Atomic rep of two years, I was there. I brought a good dealer at the time, who just happened to be Ken Gart.

I was there with Ken, Frank Hurt and Alois Rohrmoser in a house in Saranac Lake, I think. We saw Annemarie Moser-Pröll win the downhill on Atomic, which was great. So thanks! 

Charlie Webb
Edwards, Colorado