pt'ofi le l| * on'**'ffiHo"'i", ffiiffi# Malcolm ffig LONGBEFORE DALE BEGG-SMITH'S PARENTS EVEN MET,VICTOR|AN MALCOLM MILNE WAS KING OF THE HILL.Not just any hill either, the World Cup vertical of French resortVal D'lsere. lt washere that Milne made Australian his- tory,engraving his name as winner of theWorld Cup downhill in 1969.a featno Australian skier had achieved before him. fyouVe skied the glacialruns of Val D'lsee thatGreat Britain, Argentina, New Zealand and rndTignes then you're familiar with Espace Australiashouldn't be racing. The accident 0lly,named after ski guru JeanClaude didn'thappen because he was a badskier, it (illywho virtually bookeda placeon the happenedbecause there were other competF yinner'spodium at every World Cup and torsstopped on the course." tlALCoLll l,llLtaERIPPING YETAI{OTHEn CoURsE TO sHRED5. THISTIXE lI THREDBo. MnterOlympics during this time. Malcolmwanted to provethe IOC wrong l/alcolmtumed professional after representing andshow the world that little-known ski na- familyfarm tendingto beef cattle, Yalumba wine \ustraliaat two Olympic Games (first in 1968at tionslike Australia were capable of producing grapesand tobacco than with planks strapped )renobleaged 19 and then Sapporo in 1972)and downhillracers of internationalstandard. He to hisfeet. His last ski trip, three years a8o, was jnedJean Claude's troupe of headto-head paraf' provedit bybecoming the first non-European to Canadawhere he spent four days on Whistler "seeing il courseracers in slalom and giant slalom. to beatthe Europeans in downhill. Ouch. Mountain if I couldski again". "Skiing Inaddition to hisOlympic and World Cup Trainingwiththe French, he found himself the andracing are two different sports. rerformancesMilne was Australian Champion soleAustralian celebrating after the race, a win Oneis goal oriented and the other recreataonal. "lt's )r'11years straight, a bronze medal winner at hestill finds hard to believe. difficultracing I haven'tskied for years. but I dolove to powder he1970 World Championships and is nowa atworld level, the Austrians, the Swiss, and the ski,so I took my son CMH heli skiing in Canada. femember of Skiand Snowboard Australia. Frenchthey want to winmore than anyone. I Younever lose your ability, it's like swimming )espitethis he swears in hishumble style that lookat the race courses now and wonder how orriding a bike.You may not do it for years, but it mustbe a slownews day" when Powder- theydo it onthat pitch. I watchedthe [Winter you'llfind it allcomes back." oundcalls for a chat. Olympicslrace this year and saw the two Aus- Whenasked to recallhis best race he says the Likemost elite athletes it hasn'tall been traliansgo down. I thinkthey did really well, but downhillat theVal Gardena World Champion- "lt lory.In 1964 Malcolm's brother, Ross N,4ilne, to winis so hard. I can'tbelieve I did it." shipsin 1970. wasthe best race I haddone. iedwhile training for the 1964Winter Olym- Theson of a farmingfamily, Malcolm grew I thoughtI had won to behonest, but I didslow ics.The International Olympic Committee upin rural Myrtleford inVictoria and didn't start downfor a fractionof a second,though I don't ointedthe finger at Rossfor hisown death skiinguntil his early teens. Within four years he knowwhy. I lookedup at the board and saw my "His ndthus a championwas born. deathmo- wasrepresenting Australia in thejunior cham- namego from top to third and for a splitsecond vALD'ISEREDEC14,t969 "The what vatedme in downhill,"says Malcolm. pionshipsin Hokkaidolong before Niseko be- feltdisappointment. Then I remembered Unl@rfo3 T.cr$r! a thc firr tEnt(h,D hn uropeanpress said the accident happened camethe northern Thredbo. I haddone, won a bronzemedal, and realised it rudttc tb ddq Ko coltd hrdy bdoc rtc eirlc. ecauseof theinexperience of the racer and Today,you're more likely to findhim on the waspretty good for an Aussie bloke." t ttr of their cen theni ttrbele*hcet ln thc ftt|FhAf aoirry.Thc nirrs, ir sqrr4wirh dr frs Zorcaircrdy r dorn tb nasdlgqrnq *as Jcan_DarjdIb anyhofswialard widr a dnrof2:14.@ follorcd bt,t(al Sdram oftusb. r tlanddrdcbdb€roftrldlobduih.nb pf fic adfu ecmncod cr ircrrdberim d | :20.47highcr W rhcnurrtanr, rhcf"q* tur . ftr, f6 MaicolmMihc ufto qrEs 6on of al pbcq Au{.alb. Hehcki hisfqm m rhc fnal dir| doJvnto thc fmi* o rhcurparinar F of hc gro\r,ing ruofsElagtrrs! (d ras it di$di@rxf hcoppodrhcdodra2:t3.79. -)rarcld A 2l fmrs fiorn lfynlcford, I()0 . milesiun Metbourrr,wtbdidno.sti rnil hc , uas I la,isludVaglqE!idcaofafa,urib l fc rhb btucntand ofAlpirEskiing. Tl,cir ttirc i Ftrocfi Eam widt td,an Mikr eaincrt]rm a I rT\ t UscE qpabrc of, a day\tan dE Alfu , rrtrcsha&anotheirrmts. An extr.ct trem soma rag callld lhe London Tlmes by tGll IlLllE 11{acnor. llat c!Ll{ l{tlltE. SaPPoiooLY}lPlcS, ttt:!, sporls wiier John Hmn6y, pouderuour,n lf oer.