QA with Pepi Stiegler about Resi's confidence, tiger ears and the Olympic ideal

Q&A with Pepi Stiegler about Resi’s confidence, tiger ears and the Olympic idealJosef “Pepi” Stiegler won three Olympic medals in the 1960s, including slalom gold at Innsbruck in 1964. He was director of the ski school at Jackson Hole, Wyoming. His daughter Resi Stiegler is competing in her first Olympic Games this week in Torino. The 20-year-old was 11th in the women’s combined and will race in the slalom on Wednesday. Ski Racing’s senior editor Nathaniel Vinton sat with the elder Stiegler on Monday.

Mr. Stiegler is buying tickets to these events. Being a former gold medalist apparently doesn’t win you a credential, but being an Olympian entitles you to two tickets for your parents. Resi Stiegler gave one ticket to her mother, Carrie, and another to her father (they divorced when Resi was 11). Pepi Stiegler gave his tickets to his son, Resi’s younger brother Seppi, expecting to get his own from fellow Austrian skiing great Toni Sailer, who won three golds 50 years ago at the Cortina Games. Those didn’t come through, so the 1964 men’s slalom gold medalist will be buying tickets to the 2006 Olympic women’s slalom.

Ski Racing: Did you make it to the Olympics the second time they went to Innsbruck in 1976?
Pepi Stiegler: I was in the United States working as the Jackson Hole Ski School director. That was a very dedicated situation for me, so I didn’t go to Innsbruck, no.

SR: What do you think of Torino’s job organizing these Games?
PS: People are easy to criticize things. I don’t see it that way. I’m not that critical. The organizers have to struggle with the weather.

SR: Were you a friend of Toni Sailer’s?
PS: He finished ski racing when I started in the late fifties. He sort of stopped racing. … I didn’t ski that much with him. I skied a little bit with him in the training camps in Austria for a couple years.

SR: But he was going to get you into the Games.
PS: I thought so, but he didn’t for some reason. He said it was difficult. Now with the 9-11 (Sept. 11 tragedy] thing, and the Italians being very tight about everything … so he didn’t get it. That’s OK. I’m here anyway.

SR: Resi has had some injuries this season, huh?
PS: She’s gotten back into a solid situation. She wasn’t solid for a long time since Soelden. She had a very hard time. Her spirit was good, and her attitude and she was hopeful that she would make it to the Olympics and only now I can see that things have solidified for her.

SR: You don’t seem like the kind of parent that puts pressure on your daughter.
PS: Not at all. I’m not that parent at all. My parents didn’t put any pressure on me, and I was all self-motivated, and I see it the same way with Resi. She’s very strongly self-motivated. Any kind of pressure would just tangle up things into a mess.

SR: She was disappointed not to wear the tiger ears in the combined.
PS: That’s OK too. The Olympics are the Olympics. That’s the word. The top people said she shouldn’t use them, and she conformed to that rule. I think it’s a good rule. The Olympics are very special.

SR: What do you like about being here for the Games?
PS: Watching the races is the best thing. Being on the bleachers and watching the fan clubs cheering and screaming. The Croatians, et cetera. Watching the award ceremony is always touching. The award ceremony at the Olympics, they really affect you emotionally. When they play the anthem and this sort of thing.

SR: Has there been a best moment here for you yet?
PS: The Olympics are not over yet, so I’m waiting for that one moment to happen. I was impressed with [Ted] Ligety. A 21-year-old kid being an Olympic champion is pretty impressive. Not many 21-year-olds have a gold medal yet.