Maverick Miller unfazed by medals

Fame is almost a poison - I couldn't care less Bode Miller

American skiing star Bode Miller says he is not particularly interested in winning Olympic medals and would be happy to walk away from the sport.

Miller, the overall World Cup champion, won two Olympic silver medals in 2002.

"I could give up tomorrow without having the slightest regret," the 28-year-old told Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport.

"It's other people who want me to win medals, the silver medals I won in Salt Lake City didn't give me anything."

Miller has established a reputation as one of the most outspoken personalities in the sport, and his latest outburst has done nothing to dispel that image.

"I could keep away for a year and then perhaps start to feel the desire to prove something to myself again," added Miller, who will race in the slalom, giant slalom and the super-G.

"Last year I set myself the goal of winning the World Cup and lining up a long series of wins. It was my private challenge.

"This year I just want to enjoy myself."

Miller, who has chosen to stay in his own motor-home rather than the athletes' village in Sestriere, also complained about the restrictions that his celebrity imposes on his lifestyle.

Sport is born clean and it would stay that way if it was the athletes who ran it for the pleasure of taking part Bode Miller

"Fame is almost a poison. I couldn't care less, in fact I lived better when I was a nobody," he said.

Miller said the problem of performance-enhancing drugs in modern sport was essentially down to media and fan-created pressure.

"Sport is born clean and it would stay that way if it was the athletes who ran it for the pleasure of taking part," said Miller.

"But then the fans and the media intervene and finish up by corrupting it with the pressure that they exercise.

"Anyone who isn't strong is left in a corner, no-one asks for their autograph, they are abandoned in the cold shadows. Those who win, however, become icons.

"From this inhuman pressure doping is born because the athlete feels the imperative of having to be number one. I believe instead that sport should be a private pressure, a challenge for yourself."