I was 16yrs old back in 76 and remember watching this live on TV and I thought then as I do now that it was the greatest downhill run I’d ever seen. Thank you for the memories Franz Klammer the GOAT.
I had the pleasure of skiing with Franz at Mount Hutt in July and August 1983 on the South Island of New Zealand. We were both there for the FIS competition. He's truly a great athlete.
ABC Wide world of Sport gave me a ton on memories back in the decade of the 1970s. This on ranks as one of the best if not the best. And I am from Texas and never been on a pair of skies ever.
It's amazing, all of these comments from people who saw it live on TV. I saw it as well, and even though I did not ski at the time, I thought it was the most incredible performance. I remember it clearly to this day.
In America the Olympic coverage on the ABC network by Frank Gifford and Bob Beattie was outstanding !!! I remember watching this exciting event like it was yesterday even though it's now 44 years ago. And what a gentleman Bernhard Russi was too.
I came from a skiing community in upstate NY when he won the Olympic downhill, I was 14. I remember being with all my ski buds at a ski family's house packed to brim with screaming, cheering youngsters and old alike as our idol ran on the absolute edge to take the gold. The tidbits in this video don't do it justice. It was THE MOST epic ever and still is today!!! THE GOAT!
I wasn't there to watch it, but I was 10 and glued to ABC back in New York. I watched it live, and it still thrills me today more than 40 years later. And I don't even ski, but the Downhill is still my favorite. I have it TiVod for tonight. :)
The greatest skier ever. 🙏🙏🙏 such a nice and humble person. I still remember when he won his last Kitzbühel race when nobody expected it. I cried as a result and still see the news headlines the next day: “ Klammer ruderte wie in alten Zeiten! “ Franz, you where and you still are my hero⛷
I was in college, back from Vietnam and watching the Olympics in 1976. I consider his down hill, the greatest thing I ever saw in sports history. Ranking higher than the Miracle on Ice Hockey Victory or Eric Heiden' s Gold Medals in Speed Skating in 1980...
I was 18 in 1976 and also watched this live. At that point I’d never skied, but still realized what a spectacular achievement this was. I’d differ a bit with the concluding narrative of this video however: he was nowhere near in “complete control”. He was right on the edge of control most of the way down. Fabulous!
Klammer was a phenomenal competitor in the sense that to achieve what he believed was possible he took risk past the point that most would consider sensible. He courted disaster. In his '76 run he exited two of his turns with clearly compromised control, on one of them only just recovering in time to enter the racing line that took him to victory. Bottom line - a watershed moment in the sport and a cementing of Klammer's iconic status as the greatest downhiller of all time.
That run in 1976 was the most thrilling thing I have ever saw in sports history. I was 26 years old in 1976. The Closest thing to that rivals it, is the Last 5 minutes of the Miracle on Ice hockey game in 1980 Olympics with the Soviet Union despitely trying to score against the College Hockey players on team USA......
I worked in a Swiss resort Murren that season and watched it live...that yellow suit and the arms everywhere. The Swiss workers were so disappointed that the champion B Russi did not win. An amazing race strong memories of that Swiss winter
I am not an Alpine skier but anyone who loves sports and competition can appreciate his consummate skill and courage. I remember watching the 76' downhill race on TV and it truly was one of the greatest moments in Olympic history.
Watch at the end of Klammer's run, and Russi was right there to congratulate him and give him a hug. And in this video you don't sense bitterness in him for having placed second. That's remarkable.
Franz Klammer was the hero of my childhood. His spirit is still here when I go skiing in this area. Or even in summer, when I walk uphill the grass slope.
I remember watching that run when it happened on T V . I'm not a skier but I knew it was amazing right away . One of my top 10 favorite sports viewing moments in over 6 decades . 👌
Was on my second ski holiday in kitzbuhel 1984. Our ski instructor took us into a restaurant on top of kitzbuheler horn to watch the race. The place went mental when he won. Great memory. Still skiing today at 60 with heart failure doing 56 mph.
We got our first colour TV for the 1976 winter Olympic Games ....was glued to the set for the Men’s downhill. What an event and what a run. The peak of excitement. Unfortunately the games have been diluted, and watching winter games from Sochi and Beijing leave us joyless.
I remember seeing that on TV watching the whole event while I was a kid. I misunderstood his name as "Fonz" Klammer - when "Happy Days" was popular so I was immediately a fan! Such a great run!
Sofia Goggia is maybe in the same winning downhill races as the great Klammer. Worked at Snowbird in 76 and watched Klammers victory . Made a great reason to ski fast while there.
I was always amazed at his ability to just *fling* himself down a mountain, limbs flying over the jumps, and then just collect himself to finish faster than anyone imagined was possible.
every time this actual historic run "the greatest run the sport has EVER seen" is put up on RU-vid its taken down by the Olympic Federation for apparent "copyright". Shame on them. Its an important piece of history that every kid should be able to watch its inspirational. My dad has it on original Scotch VHS video tape recorded direct from air on the day with the original USA commentary (which is also electrifying) and its a sharp, perfect picture. Easily better than any quality ive seen before anywhere, and i tried putting it up here and it was taken down . BOOOO!!!!
I must concede to Markus Mueller as to certain runs, that were NOT available for my viewing. I still think it was awesome, something that I couldn't have done, so it's a great run!! Won in the Olympics, what more do you want? I'm damn near 60 and I still remember that run.
Bernadette Zurbriggen, the first women to ski on men size skis also used 2.23m and promptly won her first race when using those skis. She was 19 years old and beat second place by 1.3 seconds. This was in Jan of 1975. It is interesting to note that it is not her but Lindsey Vonn that is credited by most to have been the first women to try men skis. This just goes to proof that history can be easily distorted by flase information. Zurbriggen won another 3 races on the long skis. In total she won 7 World Cup races, 5 in the Downhill, one Giant Slalom and one Combination.
greatest run ever????? no way. But it was a great victory for him and Austria. But greatest run. Pirmin Zurbriggens race at Calgary was more like it. How about Klammers victory in Wengen Jan 1975? A victory margin by over 3 seconds! 3 seconds........ He also held the record for highest average speed in a downhill for a very long time. He achieved that in his first win at Schladming in Jan 1973. Klammer has had many great runs, but the Innsbruck Olympics were not his greatest run however it was probably his most important run.
I lived in Switzerland when this happened. It was on the news but just like everything else, it passed. But really it was no different when Zurbriggen won at Calgary. Similar scenario: Pirmin, the greatest of his time, against Mueller, who has downhills second best winning record behind Klammer. Mueller was first out of the gate (Russi was early as well) and Pirmin 14th. Pirmin was also expected to win, just like Klammer, he also expected to win. If you watch Pirmins run you know it was special. I say not greatest run, but certainly his most celebrated!
Markus Mueller What made it so amazing is the narrowness and cut of the course. You are only on the fall line for about 8 seconds, extremely difficult.
No. It was the greatest run ever. It's a philosophical argument not a statistical analysis. The pressure on Franz was not a sporting one but existential. It was poetry and sublime. Reducing sport to seconds or yardage is reductive and useless. Sport is mythical and Franz a God.
He was great, but like Hirscher he was just a specialist in one discipline. Compared to Marc Giradelli who won in all five disciplines, these guys have to take second best.
