By J.R. Clairborne
Travis Mayer
Fireworks, acrobatics, and a Carnivale-like atmosphere marked the end of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, in late February. Among those celebrating was CALS junior Travis Mayer, an applied economics and management major who also celebrated the end of his Olympic career.
Mayer, who just turned 24 in February, announced his retirement soon after his last run down the bumpy, twisting moguls course of Turin. Just as the adage advises that it’s best to leave the game when you’re on top, Mayer leaves with great timing.
Mayer’s last run won him a seventh-place finish in the Olympic men’s moguls freestyle competition, the third-highest place earned by a U.S. Ski Team member in the international contest he described recently to Gannett News Service as “the best moguls competition I've ever seen. I don't think you'll see this again for quite awhile.”
And he’s seen a few moguls competition. Since entering international competition as a teenager, Mayer has won:
- Gold at the 2005 World Cup competition in Lake Placid
- Fourth place in the 2003 Worlds moguls
- Four top-three finishes at World Cup contests in 2003
- Bronze at the 2001 Junior Worlds competition
- Gold in the 2000 Junior Worlds competition
The biggest prize among this collection is the silver medal won at age 19 in his Olympic debut in the 2002 Winter Olympics.
“I have really enjoyed my skiing career, but I want to leave the sport while I am still relatively healthy and competing at the highest level,” said the two-time Olympian via email from Italy. “I think many athletes wait until they ruin their bodies permanently and/or experience physical decline. I'm going out while still on top with very few regrets and many fond memories.”
Mayer, a Buffalo-area native, has spent two semesters and two summer sessions on campus. He started at Cornell as a food science major and later switched to AEM because “it seems like a good balance of the interesting and practical.” He plans to return to Cornell in fall 2006, wrap up the approximately three semesters he has remaining, and then look toward law or business school, unless, he says, anyone has any million-dollar ideas he could move on.
“Travis is among the most disciplined and focused individuals I've ever met,” says Kathryn Boor, associate professor of food science and Mayer’s first campus adviser. “I have long been struck by his willingness to make personal sacrifices — in terms of long hours spent practicing, extension of his educational objectives, etc. — for his sport. Clearly, his sacrifices have paid off — he has earned his position among the very finest in the entire world in free-style skiing.”