Worlds profiles: Janica is on the scene

Val d’Isere, France – World Cup overall leader Ivica Kostelic left the world championships to tend to a back problem, but his sister is waiting for him to come back.

Retired as she is (she wrapped up her final World Cup overall title in 2006), five-time World Champion and four-time Olympic gold medalist Janica Kostelic is in attendance at the 2009 world championships at Val d’Isere, cheering on her Croatian team.

With all the powder skiing she’s been doing, she hasn’t felt any missing out pangs since she’s been here, even though there’s plenty of racing excitement all around her. This week, she was watching the men’s combined event and applauding countryman and bronze medalist Natko Zrnic-Dim, who she says is like a younger brother to her. Kostelic  took a few minutes to talk about her brother(s), her retired life, racing advice and her father’s reputation as a tricky course-setter.Val d’Isere, France – World Cup overall leader Ivica Kostelic left the world championships to tend to a back problem, but his sister is waiting for him to come back.

Retired as she is (she wrapped up her final World Cup overall title in 2006), five-time World Champion and four-time Olympic gold medalist Janica Kostelic is in attendance at the 2009 world championships at Val d’Isere, cheering on her Croatian team.

With all the powder skiing she’s been doing, she hasn’t felt any missing out pangs since she’s been here, even though there’s plenty of racing excitement all around her. This week, she was watching the men’s combined event and applauding countryman and bronze medalist Natko Zrnic-Dim, who she says is like a younger brother to her. Kostelic  took a few minutes to talk about her brother(s), her retired life, racing advice and her father’s reputation as a tricky course-setter.

Your brother has left town … and you’re still here.

Yeah well, I’m hoping he’ll come back. I wanted to stay and ski because there’s the rest of the guys and girls on the team. I’m trying to help them out, too.

Do you think Ivica will return to the championships? How bad is his back?

It’s hard to say. When he’s not skiing, it’s better, when he’s skiing, it’s worse with just one turn. He’s doing rehab … As soon as he tries to ski, it gets worse.

Are the two of you quite close? Does he come to you for advice?

If he asks me something then we talk. I don’t like to push my opinions … only if someone asks me. He asks me a lot … especially about slalom and the technical disciplines. They were my best. We’re always really connected because we were training together all the time as kids so he likes when I’m around and I like to be around and help him as much as I can. 

So, you don’t have sibling fights?

Oh yeah … when we were kids. Not anymore, but when we were kids we were fighting so bad. I mean, like kids fight. He was really the calm one. He was always drawing or something and I was always all over the place. I started all the fights.

Natko’s making your country proud, isn’t he?

He’s also like a little brother to us. We were skiing together since he was little. We’re all family freinds. I really take him as my little brother. I also try to help him if he wants some help.

Do you give a lot of racers advice these days?

If someone wants it, yes. It’s a little bit different because the way we were raised and the style of training we had, I  don’t think everyone could really understand and apply everything I would say that Ivica was doing or I was doing.

Could you ever see yourself coaching?

I’m not too much into coaching. I don’t like people to tell me you have to do this, you have to do that. I never really liked someone telling me, you have to go right, you have to go left. Only if someone asks. If you really want something, it’s OK. But some of the young kids, they have crazy parents that push them. They just do it because of the parents.

How is your life now that you’re retired?

Everyone is asking me that. It’s kind of great because I go skiing every day – powder skiing. It’s lots of fun. No pressure. No obligations. I can do whatever  I want.

Do a lot of people recognize you back home and ask you for autographs?

Well … yes, but Croatia is small. It’s nice, when people have something to tell me. I don’t like people pulling me, but when they say hi and congrats and whatever – just want to talk about something a little bit, then it’s good.

Do you miss racing?

Looking at it now, what you have to do – training and the whole year – it’s really a lot of work. I was enjoying it before, but I’m enjoying life now. It’s just different.

You probably appreciate the powder here in Val d’Isere now that you’re not racing.

Nobody here is really cheering for snow here, but every day, I’m like, ‘Come on! Come on!

Your dad is notorious for his tricky gate-setting. You know his courses better than anybody. Would you say they’re super difficult?

No. For me, if you have a slope that’s easy and you have a course like, let’s say Schladming … Schladming is steep, but nothing else is really hard on that slope. If the slope is easy, you have to make the course a little bit challenging. I like to compare it to a soccer goal. You look at Beckham and he is the best shooter. But if you make the goal bigger, then everyone can shoot. If you put up some challenge in a course, then you have to use your brain. It’s not just skiing all over the place. Here [on the Val d’Isere championship courses] it’s not easy. It shouldn’t be easy. Everybody can ski straight with nothing special going on.