Some scientists say that humans have been skiing for five or even ten millennia. Evidence supporting these claims was found in Russia, Scandinavia and even China, but there is a time in more recent history when Slovenians were practically the only Europeans using skis with some skill.
That girl is Tina Maze, and yet her path to glory was not straight but long and winding, like the many downhills, super-Gs, giant slaloms and slaloms she won during her career. Hard earned glory. A gifted skier, she won the first official FIS competition she entered, with a starting number of Then, in at just 19 years old, she won her first race on the professional circuit. She was on the cusp of becoming her childhood hero, Mateja Svet, and yet she failed to deliver on the high expectations.
In , when the world economy had already been sucked into the vortex of the deepest recession since the Great Depression, she finally parted ways with the Slovenian national team, and it proved to be one of the best decisions of her professional life.
A decision that meant having to survive the almost inhuman training regime of her partner, Andrea Massi, but a decision that ultimately led first to the Everest of Alpine skiing, the World Cup and then to the summit of Mount Olympus. A tale of foes. Maze rarely climbed out of the shadow of the Croatian superstar. Animosity may fade with time. Vonn, although a specialist in speed events, is on her way to becoming the best female skier ever, with 76 wins so far, and yet she may feel underappreciated in her homeland.
Tina Maze never had the same problems, although recognised by the tabloids, she was first and foremost a skiing champion in the eyes of her countrymen. Jordan of skiing. Slovenians have had their fair share of winter champions. But it was only appropriate that Tina Maze would be the first ever Slovenian to win a gold medal at the Winter Olympics.
