LAKE LOUISE, Alta.–John Kucera's earliest skiing memories are of tagging along with his dad, the ski patroller, as he placed "SLOW" signs all over the hill.
Good thing that Kucera never paid attention to them. And, fortunately, the plucky Canadian ski racer didn't pay any heed to the yield or stop signs in his career path, either.
This is, after all, an athlete whose parents had to take out a second mortgage to keep his dream alive. He once wrote over one thousand letters in search of sponsors. And even after he scored a World Cup victory, he lost his contract with his ski company.
So on a day when his girlfriend sang the national anthem and his father, Jan, stood in the stands waving a big Canadian flag attached to ski poles, you could understand why Kucera would be pretty chuffed about finishing second to Austrian legend Hermann Maier in a men's World Cup super-G race.
"This is really what you work for from a young age," said the 24-year-old Calgarian. "When I think back on how tough it was with the amount of money that was put in and I almost had to stop because my family just couldn't afford it. ... It's nice to be able to step up on the podium and see all that hard work kind of come through.
"That's what we're here for. We're not here to finish 10th or 15th. We're here to step up on the podium and it's an amazing feeling when we do it."
It was an important result for the Canadian team, embarking on the last full World Cup campaign heading towards the 2010 Winter Games at home. It was the third straight year a Canadian reached the podium here, a stretch that's produced two wins and two second-place finishes.
The women move in now for two World Cup downhills Friday and Saturday and a super-G Sunday.
Even though he won on this course two years ago, it's not a layout that plays to Kucera's strengths. There's a lot of flats and gliding has always been one of his weaknesses, but then he is someone who has managed to buck the odds.
"It's been a long struggle for him," said Max Gartner, Alpine Canada's chief of athletics. "He wasn't one of the stars coming into the system, either. He was like a workhorse. Even when he came on our team, he was never on top of the radar but every year he got better."
Kucera almost never got there. It began to cost his parents $25,000 to $30,000 a year once he was about 13. His younger brother James was also in the sport, making it doubly hard for Jan and Zdena Kucera, who came to Canada from the Czech Republic in the early '80s.
"They had a really rough time when they first came over, as far as money and everything goes," said John Kucera. "They really came over with nothing but two suitcases and they never quit. That's the kind of attitude they brought over to my brother and I."
His parents committed themselves to helping him in skiing. He committed himself to becoming the best skier in the world.
"They were like, `Either you're going to go for this all the way or we're going to stop now,'" said Kucera.
Kucera also showed his mettle when his ski company, Atomic, didn't offer him a guaranteed contract when they were making cutbacks a few years ago. He turned down offers from other companies to stick with Atomic, because he believed in their product.
"He could have gone for the money, but he said, `I like the gear. I like the serviceman,'" said Gartner. "That's the kind of guy he is. It's a pretty mature decision for a guy who comes from no money."
Kucera made some money yesterday, collecting $20,000 in prize money, and while he was pleased with sharing the podium with Maier, he wants more.
"It's weird when you look over and your childhood hero is standing next to you," he said. "Next time I hope to beat him, because I don't want to stand below him any more."
