Four-time Olympic skier Cindy Nelson came home as the keynote speaker for the Cook County Higher Education fundraiser held at Lutsen Mountains, her old stomping—skiing—grounds. With a picture of her racing down the slopes in the background, Nelson gave a riveting account of her trials and tribulations during her 14 years as an amateur skier for the U.S.A. Staff photo/Brian Larsen
Cindy Nelson looked right at home as she walked to the podium to address the audience gathered to hear her speak.
After all, she was back in Lutsen, on top of the ski hill her parents once owned and operated. She was back in front of a lot of friends and family and she looked comfortable and still fit enough to beat any person in the room down a ski hill, running or skiing.
As the guest speaker for Cook County Higher Education, Cindy’s speech was titled, “Life lessons learned on skis.” But of course the lessons she has learned could be applied to everyone, and the rapt audience who filled the Lutsen Mountain Chalet listened intently as she unfolded her life story before them. It was a story about a little blond-haired girl from Lutsen who went on to become the best women skier of her generation despite 11 surgeries from ski-related injuries.
“This is the perfect environment for me. It was here, on these slopes where I learned to ski, and learned how to ski race,” said the retired 1976 Olympic bronze medalist and multiple world championship ski racer who now lives in Vail, Colorado.
A large crowd gathered to take part in the Cook County Higher Education fundraiser that featured a silent auction with donations from 113 Cook County businesses, a welcome from Karen Blackburn, executive director of CCHE, and of course the keynote speech from Cindy Nelson. Staff photos/ Brian Larsen
Indeed, Cynthia Lee “Cindy” Nelson has been called America’s first great male or female downhill ski racer. For most of the late 1970s and early 1980s, Cindy was the top U.S. woman at all of the various alpine events. A dislocated hip forced her to miss the 1972 Olympics, but she took a bronze medal in the downhill at the 1976 winter games.
Before the ’76 games, Cindy won two World Cup downhills, a World Cup Giant Slalom, and was ranked tenth overall. Following the ’76 Olympics, Cindy went on to win a World Cup downhill in 1979 and was ranked fourth overall that year. In 1980 she qualified for the Olympic team but didn’t win a medal in Lake Placid.
She again qualified for the winter games in 1984, competing in the Sarajevo Olympics. She won her sixth and last World Cup victory in a Super-G race held at Verbier in January 1983.
David Eckel was on hand at the talk given by his cousin, Cindy Nelson. David also skis, but his sport is Nordic skiing. This year he will compete in his 40th Birkebeiner, which impressed Cindy when he told her about his great feat.
In her first World Cup race Cindy, age 15, started 79th and finished 13th. She said the press wanted to know where she was from. When she said Lutsen, Minnesota, they questioned her, asking if there were any mountains in Lutsen. “Yes. To me there are mountains,” she told them.
“The next fourteen years they (press) loved to report, ‘Cindy Nelson can find speed on the slopes when no else could.’”
At age 15 Cindy was invited to ski camp in Chile. “All of the skiing was above the tree line,” she said.
Looking down the ski run, Cindy noted there were five hairpin turns and ruts “almost as tall as I was.”
“I didn’t know how to ski ruts, and was too shy to be forward enough to ask for help.”
Instead, she watched the Swiss and Italian skiers navigate the course. She kept telling herself to master the challenge. At the end of the 10-day training camp she said, “I was winning all of the time trials.”
As she progressed in skiing and in life after skiing, Cindy used the strategy she developed as a 15-year-old. She noted that whenever she found something initially overwhelming, she would take the problem or the challenge and break it down into manageable parts. And, when push came to shove, she would ask for help.
Like most international ski racers who push to—and sometimes beyond their limits—injuries and recovery were a natural part of the process. Cindy met Dr. Steadman, who became her mentor, friend, and later business associate through her injuries. “Dr. Steadman put me back together 11 times in my 14-year career. And I never missed a season,” she said.
Aside from fixing her physical problems, Dr. Steadman, “Taught me to be the best person that I can be.”
Using a big screen, Cindy pointed to three words written on it and explained what they mean to her.
Commitment: “I gave up a huge part of my childhood,” she said. “I missed my junior prom dance.”
Indeed, she said I.S.D. 166 allowed her to take school work with her the last three years of high school through the winters when she was gone racing. “The teachers would prepare assignments for me and I would do them and turn them in when I returned home.”
One year Mrs. Mianowski, her math teacher, prepared nine weeks of math assignments for her and, she said, “I brought them to her before I left because I had completed all of the work.”
Confidence: Confidence comes from preparing physically and mentally; making sure you have the best technique, best ski equipment and making sure you know the race course.
Concentrate: Concentration is essential when you are going down the mountain at 70 miles per hour. Nuff said.
“When I put these three things together, I knew I was ready.”
To win at the highest levels, athletes not only prepare physically, “they have to have a positive attitude, imagine it, dream it, and then go do it,” she said.
For Cindy, 1982 was the summit of her career. By this time skiers were being prepared not only to race fast, but were being peaked to race fast on the day of their biggest races.
Well, she explained, the World Cup downhill was on a course that suited her skiing style, and she was peaked and ready for gold. However, bad weather pushed her event to the end of the two-week championships. With no plans, she joined a group of men and women to play volleyball on the day she was originally slated to race. “I was at the net, couldn’t miss a block,” she said, noting the other skiers were amazed at her play. “But that was the day I was supposed to win the gold medal.”
When it did come time to race, she was given the 14th start, “a perfect start for me. I could see the line where the other girls had skied and see where to cut in to make up time. But I started wondering what color medal I would win. I let doubt creep in. Guess what color medal I won? It was silver. I lost by 14 hundredths of a second. Deep down I knew I should have won gold.”
The next year Super-G was added as a trial to the world cup. Cindy won the trial and then came back and won the first World Cup Super-G.
She described the new event by saying the Super-G race courses are as steep as the high-speed downhill courses with a few big jumps thrown in. Plus, racers weren’t allowed to ski the course before the race. Instead, they had to memorize the course and then race.
“I ran that (first course) course over in my head maybe 30 times,” she said, explaining that when it came time to race, “I hammered the course. There were no thoughts of a silver medal in my mind.”
The second Super G race went the same way. “I imagined it, I believed it, I had my three C’s and I was totally prepared,” she said.
“These are also the lessons that I use in my own life. I use them in work, in relationships, in play. No problem is too big, no challenge is too great. I try to face them with a pristine attitude.”
Following her speech Cindy, who is recently retired from running her own business, where she focused her energy on television broadcasting, personal appearances and consulting, showed pictures of her early life on skis with her her parents, three sisters and brother. Newer photos revealed her new puppy, Jazz, and she talked about her passion for fly fishing, golf, and taking up skiing in the back country where you hike up the hill and then ski down. “It’s a great way to stay in shape,” she said.
Instead of going to college – she was accepted at Middlebury College – she followed high school with a PhD in ski racing. “I did learn a couple of languages, French and German. They are important languages to know in ski racing.”
As far as the new crop of skiers, she was quick to point out that with retirement of Minnesota’s Lindsey Vonn, Mikaela Shiffrin is the new face of American skiing. Nelson called Shiffrin, “The best male or female skier in the world. I’m glad I didn’t have to race against her,” she said with a broad smile.
Leave a Reply