Moe, Kitt Retire from World Cup Ski Racing
Pair Have Seven Olympics Between Them
Tommy Moe
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Thursday, June 4, 1998
PARK CITY, Utah -- Former Olympic downhill champion Tommy Moe and World Championships bronze medalist AJ Kitt are
retiring from World Cup ski racing after each spent more than a decade
on the tour, the U.S. Ski Team announced Wednesday.
Both medal-winners said they planned to stay involved in Ski Team activities,
as their schedules allow. U.S. Men's Head Coach Bill Egan said he hoped
each would be able to assist with some coaching at one or more preseason
training camps "and maybe even in Europe during the winter. AJ and Tommy
have a lot to offer our young guys coming through the pipeline."
"I've had a lot of fun. I don't have any regrets..." Tommy Moe |
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Moe, 28, of Jackson,
WY, competed in three Olympics and became the first American man
to earn two medals in the Winter Games when he won the 1994 Olympic downhill
and returned four days later on his 24th birthday to take silver
in super G. Kitt, 29, of Boulder, CO, the only U.S male alpine racer to compete in four Olympics, took home the bronze medal in downhill from the 1993 World Championships; both Moe and Kitt won one World Cup race each although Kitt had three
other apparent wins overturned by weather.
"AJ and Tommy took the program to its greatest heights, and showed how
hard work can pay dividends, how the Olympics and World Cup don't belong
to just the Europeans. We certainly wish them all the best of luck," said
Alan Ashley, "and hope they'll stay involved with Ski Team programs. They've
got a lot to contribute."
"It's been great. I've had a lot of fun and I don't have any regrets,"
said Moe, who also won five U.S. national championships during his 12
years on the Ski Team. He plans to race professionally, he said, and,
among other projects, do promotional work for Jackson Hole Mountain Resort.
Moe, who grew up skiing in Montana, won two gold medals at the 1989 World
Junior Championships. He also raced in the first of his four World Championship
s that same year. Moe reached the height of his career in the 1994 season.
In addition to his success in Lillehammer, he won a World Cup super G
(Whistler, B.C.) and had four other top-3 results, 10 top-10s overall.
Kitt moved onto the World Cup during the 1988 season. "I'm going to miss
standing at the top of the course in Kitzbuehel [Austria] and Val d'Isere
[France, where he won in December 1991], and then racing those big hills
in Europe, and standing at the finish area with my colleagues. But the reality
is I'm not as motivated any more to achieve everything necessary to do
that ... I've always done this with success in mind. I'm used to being
in the top three, used to finishing at the top, and when you get bounced
back to a different level, it's hard to take," he said.
After a poor season in 1994, Kitt fought back to top form in 1995 to finish
second in two World Cup races and win the Aspen downhill for a second
time. Kitt never really made the comeback he wanted after tearing the
ACL in his left knee while preparing for the December, 1995 World Cup
downhill in Val d'Isere.
He said he and his wife, Nancy, are looking into broadcast television
opportunities for her. "I'm still going to be traveling for the different
things I do, so I can live anywhere, so we want to get a good situation
for Nancy and go live wherever that may be."
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"I'm going to miss standing at the top of the course in Kitzbuehel..." AJ Kitt |
He plans to stay involved with Ski Team activities - perhaps as a guest
coach at some training camps -- in addition to pursuing several options,
from competing in professional downhill races to working with a variety
of promotional opportunities. The only U.S. man to race in four Olympics,
he has been a spokesman for many years for Rolex Watch U.S.A., which sponsors
the annual alpine Junior Olympics.
Kitt grew up in Rochester, N.Y. and started on wooden skis at two at Swain
Ski Center where his parents, Ross and Nancy, were part-time instructors.
He graduated from Green Mountain Valley School and moved onto the World
Cup tour during the 1988 Olympic season. He competed in four Olympics
(1988, '92, '94 and '98) and four World Alpine Ski Championships (1989,
'91, '93 and '97), taking home the bronze medal in downhill from the '93
championships in Morioka-Shizukuishi, Japan.
He "won" four World Cup races but receives credit for only one official
victory, the season-opening downhill at Val d'Isere, France in December
1991. Two apparent victories at Aspen, Colo. in 1993 and 1995, and another
at Val d'Isere were canceled because of poor weather. He had five other
World Cup top-3s in his career, was third in the 1992 World Cup downhill
standings and won four U.S. ski championships in his career.
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