Hermann Maier retires
Wednesday October 14, 2009 - Email this article to a friend

Maier, who is 36 years old, was recovering from a knee injury but he has said he is simply not fit enough to compete in ski racing.

He fought back tears as he made his announcement.

"I have decided to bring to an end my ski career as a competitive skier.  After a lot of thought, the decision just made itself spontaneously," he said at a news conference in Vienna.

"My big goal was to get back in shape physically and I have achieved exactly that," he said. "With regard to my future life, my health was paramount for me and that's why I'm calling it quits now."

Maier, known as The Herminator, took 4 World Championship titles and won 54 races during an illustrious ski career.

The HerminatorHe won 2 gold medals at the Nagano Winter Olympics in Japan in 1998.  However an horrific motorcycle crash in 2001, where he almost lost a leg, meant he could not compete at the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City. 

4 years later, in Turin, he won a silver and a bronze.

He was quite simply one of the most exciting ski racers of his generation and the ski racing world will be a duller place without him.

We will be writing a review of his career later, here on PlanetSKI, but in the meantime here is the story from earlier this month when he said he would be back this coming season.

It contains some amazing video of THAT crash in Japan just before he went on to win 2 gold medals.

"This is very, very emotional," he said as he revealed his news. He fought back tears during the conference and reportedly cried after it was over.

Maier was skiing on the Sölden glacier this time last week.  It was his first time on skis after his recent surgery.  "I am positively surprised at how it went," he is reported to have said after the training session.

It appears that his optimism was unfounded though.

Tributes to the man have already begun coming in from across the skiing and sporting world.

The Austrian Ski Federation has paid tribute to him and says it hopes he will continue to be involved with skiing. "I hope Hermann will help our younger team members," said the director of the Austrian Ski Federation, Hans Pum.

For a look back at his remarkable racing career see this feature story from our content editor, who saw him race several times. You can also share your memories of one of the greatest ski racers ever.

Britain's number 1 male ski racer, Ed Drake, has just added his comment.......

"Herman has been an inspiration to thousands of skiers not just me! An absolute legend. Shows us that even with the chips stacked against us, coming back from that career ending crash, anything is possible."

Winning 'GOLD' at 1998 Winter Olympics

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