Bill Johnson, who has died aged 55, was the first American man to win an Olympic gold medal in downhill skiing, but his life took a sharp turn for the worse soon afterwards.
Downhill racers, who hurl themselves down slick, dizzying slopes, are seldom retiring, but Johnson’s brashness stood out. He promised Olympic gold in 1984 at Sarajevo; everybody else “could fight for second” .
After winning that gold convincingly he was asked what it meant. “Millions,” he replied with his trademark smirk. “We’re talking millions.”
It was a heady time for Johnson after that triumph. There was a slew of endorsement deals, magazine covers and, in 1985, a TV movie about his life.
Bought a Porsche
Johnson married, bought a house in Malibu and a Porsche. His victories in two World Cup events the month after the
Olympics
presaged a bright athletic future. But all that was prelude to a long slide.
Johnson was injured time and again, trained lackadaisically and sparred with coaches, one of whom he hit on the shin with a ski pole. He competed until 1989, but there were just a couple of seventh-place finishes in World Cup events.
In 1991, his one-year-old son drowned. In 1999, his wife left him; they divorced the next year and she moved house, taking their sons with her. Johnson decided to return to skiing and train for the US downhill team for the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City. He said he thought his wife would come back if he were successful.
Then came disaster. In March 2001, travelling at more than 50mph, he lost his balance and crashed headfirst into hard-packed snow, then cartwheeled through two layers of protective netting. He was in a coma for three weeks, his brain irrevocably damaged.
Move to Oregon
William Dean Johnson was born in Los Angeles and took up skiing at six or seven after his family moved to Oregon. In 1979, he received a scholarship to attend the Alpine Training Center in Lake Placid. He was named to the national team but dropped in 1982 for refusing to run or lift weights.
The gold medal was one thing in his career he did not let slip away. “I made the top, and I was the first to do it,” he said in 1985. “No one can take that away – ever.”