2022 - 2023 Far West Skier's Guide - 47

Steve said " all America remembers from 1980
was the Miracle on Ice hockey game beating
the Russians and I couldn't miss the finish. "
During one World Cup race, their
coaches got their bibs mixed up and Steve
wore Phil's bib and Phil wore Steve's bib. Not
knowing of the mistake until Steve had a
great second run winning the race and they
announced Phil as the winner. Well, after telling
the jury of their mistake, they were disqualified.
After the award ceremony, Marc
Girardelli, walked over to Steve, handed him
the Gold Medal and said " this is yours, you beat
me " .
Olympic Medalists Steve and Phil Mahre were the Keynote Speakers at the 89th Annual Far West
Ski Association Convention. Their outstanding presentation was enjoyed by all in attendance.
There was laughter in the stories, and so much appreciation shown by both US Ski Team Racers
for all the help they had along the way contributing to their success.
Once-In-A-Lifetime
Keynote Speaker Experience
by Randy Lew
Past President, FWSA
For those that were able to attend the
FWSA 2022 Convention at the Holiday Inn
Columbia Riverfront Hotel in Portland, you
got to experience an amazing keynote presentation
by Olympic medalists Phil and Steve
Mahre.
Phil Mahre is a former World Cup alpine
ski racer, widely regarded as one of the greatest
American skiers of all time. His total of
27 World Cup race wins is fourth among
Americans, only behind Lindsey Vonn, Mikaela
Shiffrin, and Bode Miller. Phil won the
1980 Olympic Silver medal in Slalom at Lake
Placid and the 1984 Olympic Gold medal in
slalom at Sarajevo.
Born in Yakima, Washington, Phil and his
twin brother Steve (four minutes younger)
were both world class ski racers and competed
on the World Cup circuit from 1976
to 1984. Starting with the 1978 season, Phil
finished in the top three in the World Cup
overall standings for six consecutive seasons,
winning the title in the final three (1981, 1982,
and 1983).
Steve won the United States Ski Association
National Slalom titles in 1975, 1980,
1981 and 1984 and the U.S.S.A. National
Giant Slalom title in 1984. Both twins were
members of the U.S. Ski Team from 1975
through 1985 and skied for the United
States on three Olympic Teams: the 1976
Olympics at Innsbruck, Austria, the 1980
Olympics in Lake Placid, New York and the
1984 Olympics in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia. At
the Sarjevo Olympics, Steve won the silver
medal in the slalom, finishing just behind his
brother Phil.
After nine seasons, the Mahre twins retired
from the World Cup circuit following
the 1984 season.
Steve finished his career
with 9 World Cup victories and 21 podiums.
Their presentation was informative, humorous,
retrospective, emotional, and raw. Gratitude
was the overwhelming emotion from
both of them.
When Phil won his Olympic Silver
medal at the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid,
Steve had a ticket for the U.S. vs. Russia
hockey game that night. The game should
have been over long before the medal ceremony,
however, the game went into overtime
and Steve missed Phil's medal ceremony. As
At the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo,
Phil again medaled in the slalom, this
time taking the gold while Steve won the
silver for a Mahre twin 1-2 sweep. Steve had
led the first run, skiing flawlessly and building
a large half-second lead over the Swede, Jonas
Nilsson, with Phil in third place, another twotenths
of a second back. Phil skied a great
second run to grab the lead, then Nilsson
skied next and faltered, dropping out of the
medals. Steve skied down last, needing only
a solid run to take the gold, but a series of mistakes
dropped him into second place, and Phil
became the Olympic champion. Unknown to
the racers, Phil's wife Holly had given birth to
their second child, a son, in Arizona an hour
before the race started. Phil did not find out
about it until a TV interview after the race.
Phil's memory from that day is the birth of
his son!
They both stated how lucky they are,
building a life out of the sport they both loved.
They also stated how, so many people that
they didn't even know, stepped up to help
fund their ski racing efforts and their dreams
when their parents ran out of money. I can't
put into words the raw emotion and gratitude
that they expressed in talking about this and
how the FWSA Athletic Scholarship Program
will help fund the Olympic champions of tomorrow
keeping the dreams of up-and-coming
racers alive.
They are using their fame and Olympic
Medals to raise money for charities. They
both had their Olympic medals put into a display
that is auctioned off for a charity approximately
every six months where the winner
gets to display the medals for a stated period.
Many convention attendees had their
pictures taken with Phil and Steve and FWSA
is making those pictures available with a donation
to the Far West Ski Foundation to support
the Athletic Scholarship Program.
Phil and Steve Mahre are true champions
and great role models. ss
Far West Skier's Guide 2O22 - 2O23
47

2022 - 2023 Far West Skier's Guide

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