Calm and collected, Bode is ready to give his all in his last Olympics. (snowbuzz/Flickr)

With Bode now 36 and about to take part in what will undoubtedly be his last Olympic games, let’s take a look back at how his legend was created. 

In Salt Lake City in 2002, Bode began to be noticed as he managed what would soon become a Bode signature maneuver, saving himself from a horrible crash after hip checking the snow at 65 mph and nearly smashing through the fence during the downhill portion of the combined event. 

Talking about the incident with Powder Magazine later, bode said “I felt like if I didn’t do it, I would probably die.”

Later that same afternoon, in the slalom portion of the combined, Bode miller out skied the rest of the field by an epic 1.18 seconds in one of the most error-free slalom runs in olympic history. His amazing slalom portion allowed him to make up for his almost-crash in the downhill, earning himself a silver medal. 

In Torino in 2006, however, Bode’s legend really took off. In the run up to the games, Miller was America’s poster boy for the olympics coming off a season in which he had won the World Cup overall title, as well as the Super-G and downhill World Championships. 

Before the games had even begun, Bode was drawing extra attention after calling his sponsors in a Newsweek interview, “unbelievable assholes. Rich, cocky, wicked conceited, super right-wing Republicans,” as well as claiming that he had raced “wasted.”

After Bode failed to win anything in Torino the media ate him up like dogs. Bode, however, was unfazed and reminded everyone that he “got to party and socialize at an Olympic level.”

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Cue the Vancouver Olympics in 2010. No one really expected much out of America’s bad boy skier, especially after a season in which he hadn’t won a single race. 

In an olympics for the ages, however, Bode skied to three Olympic medals, winning bronze in the downhill, silver in super-G and gold in a super combined in which he simply out skied everyone else in the field. 

Instantly, Bode was a hero again, revered for his all out approach to the most dangerous sport in the world. Bode has always had something of an all or nothing mentality, and even more so in recent seasons. His tendency to either DNF, DQ or wind up on the podium has become famous. 

Bode has not had a great World Cup season so far this year, but the Olympics are a whole different animal. Whether an aging Miller can pull any more amazing runs out of his sleeve remains to be seen.

One thing, however, is for sure. Win, lose or DQ, Bode will leave the Sochi Olympics as one of the greatest skiers in Olympic history. We all should feel honored to have the privilege of watching him lay it all on the line in search of the ultimate prize in all of sports on final time. 

Read more at Powder Magazine.

Reach Supervising Executive Producer Christopher Coppock by email.