Former Olympic downhill champ Bill Johnson dies

Olympic downhill champion Bill Johnson has died after a long illness, the U.S. ski team said Friday. He was 55.

Johnson died Thursday at an assisted living facility outside Portland, according to a release on the team's web site.

On Feb. 16, 1984, Johnson stunned the world with his victory in the men's downhill at the Winter Games in Sarajevo. No American had ever won a medal in the men's Olympic downhill. The 23-year-old American beat the European favorites on a fast course.

Johnson drew comparisons to the character Robert Redford played in the 1969 movie Downhill Racer.

In Sarajevo during the Olympics, he was asked if he was familiar with the film. "I've seen it many times," he said, "and that's exactly the way it'll happen now. You can start writing your story. This course was designed for me, and everyone else is here to fight for second place."

Some competitors said the victory was somewhat of a fluke because Johnson was considered more of a glider. The course was criticized as being too easy and too flat. But Johnson came home and won World Cup races in Aspen, Colo., and Whistler, British Columbia. He retired in 1990.

But speed would also bring hardship to Johnson, who suffered a traumatic brain injury in 2001 when he crashed at The Big Mountain near Whitefish, Mont., at the U.S. nationals.  At age 40, he was attempting a comeback before the 2002 Salt Lake Games.

After the crash, Johnson struggled with health problems. In a 2010 story in The Oregonian, Johnson said his life fell apart after failing to make the team for the 1988 Calgary Games. His wife divorced him and took his two sons to California.

"I was broke," he told The Oregonian. "If I had money and a gold medal again, I think she would have loved me and come back."

Later in life, he struggled with memory loss, and had difficulty speaking and walking.

"I never even thought about the risks," he said in the Oregonian interview. "You can't if you want to be great."

Johnson helped pave the way for American success in the downhill. Ten years after his triumph in Sarajevo, a 23-year-old from Palmer, Alaska, Tommy Moe would win the Olympic gold at the Winter Games in Lillehammer.

"Bill was an unbelievable fighter since his injury. He went through a lot. It's sad," Olympic super-G silver medalist Andrew Weibrecht said Friday. "He was the guy that really jump-started American downhill racing. Nothing had really happened much up until '84 when Bill came and had that fantastic run in Sarajevo and that same year he won Wengen."

"He really paved the way for guys like Tommy Moe, A.J. Kitt and Kyle Rasmussen to realize that it's possible. In turn these guys paved the way for our generation," Weibrecht said after finishing second in a World Cup super-G in Kitzbuehel.

Johnson was born in Los Angeles and grew up ski racing at Bogus Basin in Idaho. He  moved on to Mt. Hood in Oregon and also raced with a program in Mission Ridge, Wash.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

PHOTOS: Bill Johnson through the years