When Hermann Maier was laying on the road after his accident in August 2001, he was praying to God and the doctors to save his legs.

"My first wish was to walk again normally" he once told a reporter in the weeks following his accident, which created a huge uproar in Austria and throughout the sports world. Many champions from other sports wrote him or sent him telegrams of support.

After weeks of depression and terrible physical pain, he recovered his momentum and his determination when he was assured he would keep his legs after a seven-hour-long surgery.

For a few weeks, Hermann and his staff even believed he could make it for the 2002 Olympics at Salt Lake City - but in the middle of January, he was forced to throw the towel when he saw that he could not progress fast enough.

After a long break and holidays in the Caribbean Sea, he trained again intensively in spring 2002. Finally in July, he returned skiing with his colleagues in Zermatt, Switzerland where he sounded very optimistic during an international press conference.

"I will be back!" he said, imitating once more Arnold Schwarzenegger's famous character "The Terminator". "I'm only 30 and the same skiers are winning the races. Some of them are quite a bit older than me so there is no reason to be impatient".

But his road to "The Herminator II" became longer and more difficult after a new crash in August 2002 while training for a Super-G in Portillo, Chile, along his team. The Austrian, who liked to much to aggressively charge the courses and his rivals, had to learn to be patient and to relax.

The bruises and the tissue of his damaged muscles needed much time to heal. Hermann's body was quite stressed and tired after all the intense rehabilitation efforts he had already undertaken to get back in shape.

After some ski tests in Soelden in October, he had to postpone his return to an undetermined date. In some interviews, he even started to mention his concern about his future as a racer, fearing it would take much longer than expected.

He also started to take helicopter flying lessons to challenge his mind and he got involved in more promotional activities with his sponsors and the bid of Salzburg for the 2010 Winter Olympic games.

"I have to stop thinking all the time about ski racing, it affects my moral" he said in a press conference in November after announcing his decision to become a spokesman for Salzburg.

"I will only be 38 in 2010 so who knows, I may be racing by then" he added with a grin.

His positive attitude and the strong support of his personal staff of trainers and medical experts apparently helped him to overcome this crisis and to recover most of his potential after his legs healed.

Tuesday's race is more than a test for him and for the moment he doesn't want to think about racing also in Wengen, Kitzbühel or St Moritz. It's a return to his routs and his passion. In Adelboden, he will finally be himself again.

"I'm mostly happy to be again a ski racer" he said. "I miss the sport a lot and I discovered how much it meant to me".

Had he won more Olympic gold in February 2002, Hermann Maier may have decided to give-up ski racing and start a new career as an actor in Hollywood alongside "Arnie". But now ski racing is again the center of his life - and hopefully for him and the sport, it will continue for a long time. "If I'm healthy and having a great time, I don't see why I should not race in 2006 at the next Olympics" he said in November.

"I will only be 33 in February 2006. I will never be the same as in the past and I will for sure not be as successful as so far but I have nothing to prove anymore. Just to enjoy it!"

Hermann Maier - just a happy man!

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— MountainZone.com staff