Olympic dream lures Grandi out of retirement

Canada’s Thomas Grandi, who retired from the World Cup alpine circuit at the end of the 2007 season, is returning to the national team, saying the opportunity to race for an Olympic medal in his home country in 2010 “is too great to pass up.”
    “It’s a big piece of why I’m coming back,” Grandi said in a conference call with journalists on Thursday.

CANADA'S THOMAS GRANDI, who retired from the World Cup alpine circuit at the end of the 2007 season, is returning to the national team, saying the opportunity to race for an Olympic medal in his home country in 2010 “is too great to pass up.”
    “It’s a big piece of why I’m coming back,” Grandi said in a conference call with journalists on Thursday.
    The 35-year-old Grandi has nine World Cup podium finishes, including a pair of giant slalom victories in 2004, on his resumé. He is regarded as the best Canadian male technical skier of all time and has competed in three Olympic Games. He will now target a fourth and try and add to his family’s medal collection — Grandi’s wife, Sara Renner, has an Olympic silver in cross-country and also will try to qualify for the 2010 Games. The couple welcomed a daughter in 2007, a factor that helped spur Grandi’s decision to retire two seasons ago.
    “From a mental standpoint, I’ve gained a huge amount of perspective of life after sport, life with a real job and really realized how great the life of an athlete is,” said Grandi, who spent the past year as president of Alberta Alpine. “I think that will allow me the most of an opportunity I know will be the last and final opportunity. I think I will come back with a focus, and I really feel I’ll make the most of all my training sessions.”
    Grandi said he and Renner did a lot of soul searching before deciding on their comebacks, questioning “whether we can both compete 110 percent and also raise a child and do a good job.”
    “I think we both realized we have a dream we want to pursue but at the same time we can be good parents,” Grandi said.
    Though not competing on the World Cup, Grandi said he remained active on the race hill over the past year and even served as a forerunner for the World Cup races at Whistler.
    “There were days when I came off the hill and thought, ‘I think I can still do this,’ ” he said.
    Despite feeling the itch to return, Grandi said he kept his feelings relatively private, confiding in only a select few people until July 1, the self-imposed deadline when he would decide to return or not. “On July 1, I woke up and knew I wanted to do this,” he said.
    Alpine Canada Chief Athletics Officer Max Gartner said he welcomed Grandi’s return.
    “We certainly look at this as a great opportunity,” Gartner said. “Thomas has always been a great leader on our men’s side, particularly the technical side, and we struggled a little bit on the technical side last year. So we’re really excited to have that shot in the arm again and have his leadership back.”
    Gartner said Grandi’s return will be managed carefully. He will have his own coach and race a modified schedule, likely skipping the Sölden and Levi races to open next season. Gartner said Grandi’s current FIS rankings are high enough to earn a spot on the national team, but he will still need to earn starts.
    “We only have so many spots in World Cup races and he certainly needs to prove that he is one of those five, six or seven guys to get in the race,” Gartner said. “We have designed a program that’s tailor made for him to get him back in form. We’re not going to rush. This is laid out to win a medal in Vancouver and we’re going to make sure physically he’s ready, skiing-wise he’s ready before we throw him into competition.”
    Right before Thursday’s conference call, Grandi said he alerted teammate Mike Janyk to his comeback plan
    “He was pretty excited to say the least, and pretty darn surprised,” Grandi said. “ … I think most of my teammates had written me off. He was really excited to hear the news but he told me I looked really skinny.
    “I’m really excited to be able to pick up the phone now and not be hiding anything.”