Whether or not local favorite Erik Schlopy manages to salvage a disappointing season with an exceptional showing in the Olympics, he’ll have the comfort of knowing his fan club will be there for him.
His Austrian fan club.
It’s not uncommon for U.S. skiers to be better known in Europe than they are here. But Schlopy and teammate Bode Miller have endeared themselves in a very particular way to the people of a sparsely populated valley south of Innsbruck, Austria.
For the last three ski seasons, the two friends and rivals have shared a farmhouse in the town of Schmirn, using it as a base camp for their travels on the World Cup circuit.
“I think most people are proud that Bode and I have chosen to live there,” said Schlopy, who will start in the giant slalom Thursday and the slalom Saturday. “They’ve sort of adopted us.”
It’s not what most athletes would consider a posh existence. Schlopy and Miller live under the same roof as five cows, a couple of goats, a pig and several chickens, separated by a wall that was somewhat porous when they moved in.
“They did that so that in the winter they didn’t have to go outside to feed the animals,” Schlopy said. “And the animals provide heat for the house. They also provide a lot of fragrance.”
Schlopy and Miller plugged the chinks in the wall, had a satellite dish installed on the roof and otherwise have adapted comfortably to their surroundings.
“It really is a fairy-tale setting,” Schlopy said of the house, which has a view of the Hintertux glacier, covered by snow year-round.
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They frequently eat dinner at a nearby bed-and-breakfast whose proprietor, Paul Jenewein, is their biggest booster. Miller usually asks for knoedel, a dumpling dish, while Schlopy “loves his Viennese cutlets,” Jenewein, 40, said in a telephone interview. “They are nice guys, very simple. We say they are half-Austrian.”
Jenewein, who has a link to Schlopy’s Web site on his bed-and-breakfast home page, formed the fan club several months ago. About 60 people have paid an initiation fee of about $15, and the club also is subsidized by the regional tourist board.
The club’s hardy inner circle showed up at two World Cup events last month, bearing posters and banners. Other Austrian fans “were surprised, and looked at us, of course,” Jenewein said. He and his friends were vindicated when Miller finished on the podium in both races.
They weren’t quite the same good-luck charm for Schlopy, who has struggled this season after contracting a tenacious bronchial infection last August. He missed two months of training and never was able to recoup. His best finish, last month in a slalom in Wengen, Switzerland, was 11th place.
Schlopy’s results mean he will start farther back in the field, but he will have the advantage of racing on a hill in his hometown of Park City.
“By no means am I too far away from being able to ski as fast as I ever have,” he said.
Schlopy, 29, clawed his way back onto the U.S. team after a lengthy detour in the mid-1990s. He won U.S. titles in super-G and giant slalom 10 years ago but stalled after a serious crash in 1993. When he chose to ski for three years on a now-defunct professional circuit, everyone assumed he was gone for good.
The maverick lifestyle of the circuit helped him develop a tough competitive hide. At one point, he slept in the closet of a condominium occupied by eight Swedish skiers.
“If I hadn’t taken that path, I wouldn’t be here today,” Schlopy said.
When Schlopy decided he wanted to rejoin the U.S. program, he slept in his mini-van for three months while he and a friend serving as his ski technician drove 20,000 miles to low-level races, accumulating enough points to be asked back.
Schlopy finished third in the World Cup giant-slalom standings last year and was the chief U.S. hopeful in the technical events going into the Olympic year. Instead, Miller, who had yet to prove himself on the international level, won four World Cup races.
The role reversal hasn’t affected their friendship, which always has been infused with a competitive dynamic.
“He wants me to be back and skiing well,” Schlopy said of Miller. “Bode always says I’m the one he really wants to beat. We have a good relationship.”
Schlopy has worked with two sports psychologists during his struggles this season. “You have to wave goodbye to disappointment when you live life as a competitor,” he said.
He found one emotional antidote the day before the Olympics. Schlopy ran in the torch relay in Park City, receiving the flame from his mother, Marny. He kissed her, then built up so much steam that he ran right past the next torchbearer.
He’ll try not to miss any gates this week. Jenewein and another member of the fan club are making the trans-Atlantic trip to cheer on Schlopy and Miller.
“Oh, I hope, I hope,” Jenewein said of Schlopy’s chances. “I’m going to bring him a present. A bottle of Schmirn ale.”