Bode Miller is the reigning champion in the World Cup overall, the most coveted prize in Alpine skiing. He won two Olympic silver medals (giant slalom, combined) at the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City, and also has five career medals (four golds) at world championships. He had flirted with the overall title for years (fourth in 2002, second in 2003, fourth in 2004) before finally winning it in 2005.

Miller's approach is to go all-out on every trip down the hill. He quests to ski the perfect run, and he would rather crash trying than play it conservatively to preserve a spot in the top 10. Because of this, he is a legitimate medal contender in all five men's events, but he could just as easily not finish any of them. The results will likely be somewhere in between. With just one medal, he will have more Olympic hardware than any other U.S. Alpine skier in history. (Nine Americans, including Miller, have two career Alpine medals; no one has three.) A loftier goal to consider: no Alpine skier in history has won five medals at one Olympics. (Janica Kostelic's four in Salt Lake is the best.)

To begin the 2004-05 World Cup season, Miller won his first three events, four of his first five, and six of his first 10. Despite it still being mid-December, he had a seemingly insurmountable lead in the points standings, as his 730 was more than twice that of the Austrians chasing him. Among his first six wins were gold medals in each of the four disciplines. Miller was just the second skier in history to accomplish this single-season feat, and the 16-day span in which he completed it easily bested the 71 days it took Marc Girardelli in 1989. Then the drought hit. For the next two months, he crashed out of every other race, holding on for top-fives in most of the rest. But entering March he was still stuck on six victories, and his once-great points margin got as tight as 29. Miller turned it back on for the World Cup finals, the last four events of the 36-event schedule. He took silver in the downhill, gold in the super-G, and clinched the overall title with a giant-slalom silver in the season's penultimate race. He finished nearly 200 points ahead of runner-up Benjamin Raich of Austria and was the first American to win it since Phil Mahre in 1983.

Miller entered the 2005 World Championships in Bormio, Italy, with a reputation for reckless skiing and hard living, and he lived up to both. His recklessness on the slopes earned him gold medals in the downhill and super-G -- he was the first American man to win the downhill title at Worlds -- and kept him from finishing the combined, giant slalom and slalom events. Even when he failed, he did so spectacularly. Miller's left ski popped off just 15 seconds into the combined downhill, but he still skied much of the course on his remaining ski. He even went into a tuck before ultimately sliding to a halt. It pleased the crowd, but coach Phil McNichol was in disbelief. "It was very risky for no reward," McNichol said. "I was, like, 'What is he thinking?' If he'd have hurt himself on that run ...." But Miller's victories solidified his elite status in the speed events. He edged Michael Walchhofer by .14 of a second in the super-G, which bumped the Austrians to 2-3-4 in the standings. Miller's gold-silver finish with teammate Daron Rahlves in the downhill was arguably the greatest day in American skiing history, rivaled only by Phil and Steve Mahre placing first and second in the 1984 Olympic slalom.

As recently as the 2003-04 season, and for his entire career before that, Miller excelled in the technical events. He didn't enjoy the label of being a tech specialist, but the numbers supported it. His finishes in the giant slalom and slalom were consistently better than those in the downhill and super-G, to the point that his coaches and the media questioned why he would even bother. Yet for the three World Cup seasons following the Salt Lake Olympics, Miller raced every discipline, every event, taking no races off to rest. His breakthrough finally came in 2004-05. He had never won a medal in either speed event and finished the previous season ranked 23rd and 25th in the downhill and super-G, respectively. But he opened with a gold medal in each and the competition recognized he was more a contender for the overall title than ever before. The problem was that he began struggling in the slalom, once his forte. Of the nine events he started in that discipline, he finished only two (though he did win gold in one).

Philosophical and opinionated, Miller often is the source of controversy in the European press. During the 2004-05 ski season, as his popularity grew with his pursuit of the World Cup title, he was often surrounded by microphones and providing headlines off the snow. At Worlds, Miller had several forums for his opinions: the throng of reporters, his satellite radio show, and his weekly "Bode on the Bus" segment for OLN. After winning the super-G, he openly discussed competing in the downhill on Saturday morning, flying to Jacksonville for the Super Bowl -- he's a Patriots fan but mainly wanted to party -- then returning to Italy in time for the giant slalom on Wednesday. His coaches frowned, as they often do when he speaks. Miller ultimately decided not to make the trip and instead watched the game in Bormio until 4:30 a.m. with dozens of others at USA House. Three days later, with the men's giant slalom postponed until Thursday, Miller filled the news void by announcing that he was considering quitting the U.S. Ski Team after Torino to either form his own professional team or circuit. (He said that he and teammate Erik Schlopy planned to start a tour together, but Schlopy later said that he and Miller had never discussed the subject.) In Miller's view, skiers who aren't on the top of the World Cup standings should get paid more, and everyone should have more time during the season to party. During the second week of Worlds, he openly complained about how tiresome the intense media attention had become, but Miller had courted much of that attention with his comments and his exploits on his skis. By the end of the World Cup season, he announced that he was considering skipping the Torino Games altogether because he feared that winning medals and becoming famous would dramatically inhibit his lifestyle. He said that he likes being able to walk the streets of New York City unnoticed, explaining that the only person who has ever recognized him in Manhattan was "some Austrian dude." Some of his comments rang hollow, though, considering that he had recently signed a lucrative multi-year endorsement deal with Nike.

Since the 2003-04 season, Miller has traveled from World Cup stop to World Cup stop in Europe in a 30-foot motor home, complete with a king-sized bed and chauffeur/chef (his friend, Jake Serino). Initially, skiing officials worried that the vehicle might pose a security risk for Miller, that raucous fans might try to tip it over or party too much nearby. To avoid such problems at events, Serino parks it in a secured area with television production trucks. Miller favors the RV (as does Daron Rahlves, who has his own customized bus) over sleeping in different hotels every night, lugging his equipment on and off buses and other hazards of the road. "I've tried to figure out ways to eliminate as many of the negative variables as I can and focus on the things I really like," Miller says.

Since 1995, every men's overall World Cup champion has raced on Atomic skis, and Miller's ascension to the top ranks coincided with his switch to the Austrian-made equipment. The company had previously only supplied equipment to Austrian athletes, but Miller and teammate Rahlves were welcomed into the stable of top skiers, prompting some members of the Austrian media to all but accuse Atomic of treason. In addition, when Austrian and four-time Olympic medalist Stephan Eberharter retired, Eberharter's skis and ski technician were assigned to Miller and Rahlves.

--NBC