Former Redmond resident and 12-year U.S. Ski Team member Scott Macartney has been knocked down several times in his sport of choice, professional downhill and “Super G” (giant slalom) skiing, which combines the speed of downhill with the technical skills required in slalom.

First, it was surgery to repair a damaged kneecap tendon in mid-2000.

Then, in back-to-back years, he suffered a season-ending concussion and back injury and then another knee surgery in December 2001 following a crash while training in Val Gardena, Italy.

Macartney has felt the sweet feeling of victory several times also, including two World Cup podium finishes and appearing in both the 2002 and 2006 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City and Turin, Italy. But Macartney may be best known for his near-fatal crash on the final jump at Kitzbuehel in Austria during a World Cup event in 2008 on his 30th birthday.

Macartney twisted in mid-air going over 88 miles an hour, fell hard on his left side and was knocked unconscious, suffering a major concussion and torn meniscus in his left knee. After being airlifted to a hospital, he was placed into an induced coma while doctors rushed to reduce swelling in his brain.

“The Kitzbuehel is our biggest race, because it’s the most dangerous,” said Macartney, who was in Seattle on Wednesday for a media event. “It’s a track that has claimed a lot of people, ended a lot of careers, and is by far the most exciting. It’s kind of like our ‘Super Bowl,’ every year, 80,000 people show up, and it’s our opportunity to perform on that stage.”

On a course so fraught with danger, Macartney had successfully navigated every difficult turn and jump, but at the speed of Super G, one small mistake can be magnified, often with dire consequences.

“You’re going like 90 miles an hour into (the last jump), and then fly 55-60 meters, so going a long ways going that fast, a lot of things can happen,” Macartney explained. “It’s the kind of thing where something very small compounded into landing sideways. Sometimes you get a little bit of wind, or an uneven surface, and in that sport, those things can happen. It’s part of the risk and part of the draw of being a downhiller.”

REDMOND ROOTS

Macartney, who was born and raised in Redmond and graduated from Redmond High School in 1996, said his love for the slopes began at a very young age.

His parents, John and Laurie, worked as ski patrollers at Crystal Mountain, where the young Macartney spent most of his free time.

Laurie was a longtime chemistry teacher at Eastlake High School and John was a principal in the Issaquah School District, now working as the District’s Resource Conservation Manager.

“It’s just what my family did,” he said, adding that he had skis on by the time he was two-and-a-half. “I was up there every weekend pretty much from age one onward.”

Pretty soon, skiing and his own Olympic dreams were all Macartney had on his mind. Working his way up through the junior ranks, he started out in Washington and advanced through regional and eventually national competitions, training at the best facilities on a very limited budget.

“You don’t really decide to (become pro). It’s something where you work at it and wait for it to happen,” said Macartney. “In reality, only 15 or 20 people in the U.S. are on the national team for skiing. I started taking it very seriously in my late teens… you have to keep moving up and win at every level.”

All of his hard work came to fruition in 2002, when Macartney, who was at the time pursuing an Economics degree at Dartmouth, was named to the U.S. Olympic Ski Team for the first time and competed at the Salt Lake Games.

Finishing 29th at his first Olympics, he followed up four years later with a run for the ages at Turin in 2006 during the Men’s Super G event, placing seventh with a time of 1 minute, 31.23 seconds, as he was just a little over two-tenths of a second away from a bronze medal, and .58 of a second behind gold medalist Kjetil Andre Aamodt of Norway.

“I was leading, and led the Olympics for quite a while,” Macartney recalled with a smile. “Five, six minutes in the leader’s circle, and being at the top of everyone… I had a good performance in a big race, and a lot of confidence came from that.”

OLYMPIC ASPIRATIONS

With the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver on the horizon, Macartney has made a full recovery from his most recent injury — a torn ACL in his left knee in January — and he said he thinks he has a very good chance to make the team once again. Selections are based on performances in World Cup events leading up to the Games.

“Our team is as strong as it’s ever been, we have seven guys in downhill that are in the top 30 in the world, the best in history,” he said. “It’s going to be tough, but I’ve been at that level and skied there before. It will be a battle, but I think I can make it.”

The kid that spent his childhood on the slopes and wrote essays in grade school about racing in the Olympics has overcome more than his share of bumps and bruises along the way.

Now, at age 31, he is on the verge of getting another chance to bring home some hardware for his home country at what he considers to be a “home” Olympics this February.

“In skiing there is such a fine line, you’re talking hundredths of seconds at the end of courses that can be up to three miles long. There’s a lot of fine-tuning that goes on when you get back into your ‘race mode,’” Mccartney said. “I’m looking to do that in the first couple of races (this winter), and then really start to get after it and charge.”

To learn more about Scott Macartney, visit his Web site at www.scottmacartney.com.

For more information about Scott’s charity, World Cup Dreams, visit www.worldcupdreams.org.