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Miller's Drinking Comments `Inappropriate,' U.S. Ski Chief Says

By Pete Coates Jan. 9 (Bloomberg) -- World Cup ski champion Bode Miller'scomments about drinking alcohol and racing send a ``dangerouslyinappropriate message,'' the head of the U.S. team said. Bill Marolt, the president and chief executive of the U.S.Ski and Snowboard Association, said the comments made by Millerduring an interview on CBS News's ``60 Minutes'' were``unacceptable'' and ``irresponsible.'' ``Not only is the use of alcohol irresponsible on the partof an athlete, but it is also a dangerously inappropriatemessage to send to participants in our sport, especially youngskiers and snowboarders,'' Marolt said in a statement posted onthe U.S. Ski Team's Web site. Marolt said he will meet with Miller this week to discussthe comments. Lowell Taub, Miller's agent, didn't immediatelyreturn a telephone message left with a representative at SFXSports Group in Washington. The 28-year-old Miller, preparing to ski on the U.S. teamin next month's Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, said in aninterview telecast last night by the Viacom Inc. network that at
times ``I've been in really tough shape at the top of thecourse.'' ``If you ever tried to ski when you're wasted, it's noteasy,'' Miller said during the interview. ``Like driving drunk,only there are no rules about it in ski racing.'' Miller won two silver medals at the 2002 Winter Games inSalt Lake City. Last year, he became the first U.S. skier since1983 to win the overall World Cup title. He has been criticized by Olympic officials for saying ininterviews that athletes should be allowed to use performance-enhancing drugs.