Aiming for Gold

Olympic hopeful Tiger Shaw '85 points towards Sarajevo

It is Tiger Shaw's desire to some day be one of the best alpine ski racers in the world. The way he is going, that day might not be far away. Shaw, a junior from Stowe, Vt., is already one of the top alpine racers in this country.

"Tiger is Skiing extremely well," said Bob Harkins, assistant alpine director of the U.S. Ski Team, when contacted in December. "He trained hard all summer and his attitude is very good. He's a very intelligent skier; he's got the mentality to be one of the best."

Dartmouth ski coach John Morton will agree with that. "Sometimes you see an alpine skier and it will be apparent that he is a racer who throws caution to the wind." Morton said, "They're either spectacular in winning or just have disastrous falls and blow out of the course. Tiger isn't like that. He's always very much in control, but still manages to be assertive. He knows the fine line between pushing it to the limit and not going beyond."

Last year, Shaw was ranked 42nd among the world's giant slalom skiers. He was third in the United States behind Phil and Steve Mahre. Shaw gained instant fame by beating both Mahres while winning the giant slalom at the U.S. National Championships last February. Phil Mahre is the threetime defending overall World Cup champion.

This season has seen Shaw, 22, pick up right where he left off last year. He was the leading skier on the North American Trophy Series (NorAm) tour during December. In seven races, Shaw finished in the top five on six occasions, winning once.

The NorAm series is considered one step below the World Cup series. Shaw was one of two U.S. skiers selected to race part of the World Cup circuit in January prior to the Olympics. "I worked my way up the ladder last year," Shaw said. "The World Cup races are glamorous, but I don't want to race them full time until I know I can place in the top 15."

Apparently, that time has come. Shaw was one of four U.S. skiers, including the Mahre brothers, selected to race World Cup in January. Although the U.S. Olympic team won't be selected until a week prior to the Winter Games in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, Shaw is already considered a safe bet for the six-to-eight man squad.

"All I can do is work as hard as I can and hope that will lead to something good," Shaw said. "Someone in my position has to make the team first; then I can concentrate on doing well in the Olympics. The neat thing about the Olympics, though, is that it's a oneday event. Whoever is hot that day can win. If I'm hot that day and some other people are not, I could be right in there."

Shaw competed only one year for the Dartmouth ski team, but what a year that was. As a freshman he was the 1982 NCAA slalom champion and was third in giant slalom. His efforts earned him All-America status. SkiRacing magazine named him College Skier of the Year.

Along the way, he won six winter carnival events in 10 starts. He was a double winner at the Dartmouth Winter Carnival, claiming both the slalom and giant slalom. Dartmouth finished fifth in the NCAA championships that year.

"As a freshman he was phenomenal," Morton said. "Based on his performance that year, there probably haven't been three or four alpine skiers in the history of the College that were better during their times."

Shaw looks back at his year on the Dartmouth ski team as crucial in his overall development as a racer. "I came to know myself better skiing-wise because I didn't train as much," he said. "I learned how to maximize my training time and how to concentrate better. It didn't help me tactically, but mentally it did. The regimen of school was good for me."

Morton also thinks a year skiing for Dartmouth was beneficial for Shaw. "It helped him take the mental blinders off," Morton said. "I think it helped him put skiing in a different perspective. I think Dartmouth was able to stimulate him mentally and that allowed him to relax a little as far as skiing went. It's very easy when your whole life revolves around success or failure in any one sport to get into a slump and not know how to get out of it."

Until coming to Dartmouth, Shaw's career had been on a treadmill as he was finding it difficult to move up through the ranks of the U.S. team. Racing for Dartmouth during the 1981—82 season enabled Shaw to see skiing in a new light.

"The fun thing about racing at school was that I was doing it for the team," he said. "Here, I'm just doing it for me. In Europe if someone fails during their first run they just pack up and head back to the hotel. Racing at school is a team sport. If someone falls, they stick around and see how everyone else does. At Dartmouth there was so much team cohesion. Everyone was working together toward the same goal."

With Mt. Mansfield and the Stowe Ski Area in his backyard, Shaw grew up in a ski racing environment. He was on skis at age four and racing by the time he was nine. His entire family skis and his sister, Danielle, achieved All-America honors in the sport at Middlebury College. His younger brother, Andrew, is now racing for the University of Vermont.

When it came time for Shaw to select a college, however, Dartmouth was his first choice. "I wanted to go to school in the East and it had to be a ski school." Shaw is currently carrying a "B" average as an engineering science major.

For skiers, one of the beauties of Dartmouth is its tri-semester plan. It allows them the flexibility to ski in the winter and attend school in the summer. "If I had to go to school yearround, it would mean an end to my international skiing career," Shaw said. "The Dartmouth Plan gives you a lot of flexibility. There are very few places in the country that allow you to do that."

Shaw is now in the midst of his third year on the U.S. (national) Ski Team. "When you get to this level you really do live, sleep, and breathe it," he said. "School takes my mind off skiing. I'm able to lose myself in school and forget all about racing. I see a lot of people grind themselves into the ground trying to make the [U.S.] team. You've got to have an outlet; you can't apply too much pressure on yourself. For a lot of guys on the team, the only thing they have is ski racing. I've got school to fall back on."

Although it may seem difficult to imagine, Shaw said there are times when he feels the pressure to do well in school is greater than when he's weaving down a steep and icy slalom course. "It's funny, I get more nervous for a test in school than a World Cup," he said. "In skiing, I know before a race that I've done just about everything possible to prepare myself. That's not always the case in school."

Ski racing itself is in Shaw's blood. On race day, the adrenalin is pumping long before it's his turn to enter the starting gate. "You can be very nervous before a race and the instant you release out of the starting gate, all the tension is gone," Shaw said. "You're only performing for two minutes a day, but it feels like you're having to constantly ski over your head if you want to get the job done."

Shaw doesn't regard ski racing as a science, at least when going against the best in the world. "The better you get, the less technical it becomes," he said. "It becomes much more mental. Everyone is training just as much as you. The key is to be able to get your body pumped up time after time."

When he is on campus, Shaw wants to be treated like everyone else. It's not always that way, though. "It's fun to be recognized, but I hate it when people idolize me," he said. "It makes me something I'm not. I'm not superhuman; I'm a very average athlete in many ways."

There is nothing ordinary about his nickname, however. He was given it as a kid and it has stuck with him. His real name is Gale H. Shaw III, but he prefers to be known as Tiger. He even has it listed that way in the registrar's office. "It's fun having a unique name like that," he said.

This summer his nickname came in handy. Flying Tigers, a air cargo delivery company and an official U.S. Olympic team sponsor, was looking for a media tour representative. Shaw was an obvious choice. He was one of only three members of the men's ski team selected to represent Olympic sponsors.

Shaw is as impressive off the slopes as he is on them. "It almost sounds trite, but he's the epitome of the AllAmerican boy," Morton said. "He has a good sense of humor and is very humble, which is incredible for someone in his position. If anyone has a reason to be cocky, it would be Tiger."

Shaw has been stuck with the "All-American boy" label for quite some time. Still, he doesn't think he's out of the John-boy Walton mold. "I've got plenty of faults; I'm just good at hiding them," he said.

It is, however, difficult to find fault with his attitude. "It's funny," Shaw said. "A skier can be doing well and he starts to get cocky, that makes him relax a little. That's when you get your doors blown off because you didn't work hard anymore and weren't levelheaded."

For Shaw, winning clearly isn't everything, but it certainly brings him satisfaction. "It's a neat feeling," he said. "The most pleasing thing about the whole sport is that you can work at it for months and then all of a sudden everything starts to click. That's when you realize the work you've been putting in for years is paying off."

Soaring over Sarajevo

The Dartmouth contingent at the 1984 Winter Olympics has high hopes. Landis Arnold '82 (above) shows his international form at Oslo, Norway. A forejumper at the 1980 Olympics at Lake Placid, Landis was Junior U.S. National Jumping Champion in 1978. Dennis McGrane (right), a senior from Littleton, Colo., makes the long walk up the hill at Lake Placid. McGrane, who skied for.the U.S. National Team during his freshman year at Dartmouth, won the U.S. Juniors in jumping the year after Arnold. The current U.S. Nordic director, Jim Page '63 (below), competed in the 1964 Games in Innsbruck, Austria.

Jim Kenyon is a staff writer for THE/Lebanon, N.H.] VALLEY NEWS.