1984 Olympics
At the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, Phil again medaled in the slalom, this time taking the gold while Steve won the silver for a Mahre twin 1-2 sweep. Steve had led the first of two runs, skiing flawlessly and building a large half-second lead over Swede Jonas Nilsson with Phil in third place, another two-tenths back. Phil skied a fine second run to grab the lead, then Nilsson skied next and faltered, dropping out of the medals. Steve skied down last, needing only a solid run to take the gold, but a series of mistakes dropped him into second place, and Phil became the Olympic champion. Meanwhile, unknown to the racers, Phil's wife Holly had given birth to a son in Arizona an hour before the race started. Phil did not find out about it until a TV interview after the race.
The Mahres won two of the five alpine skiing medals taken by Americans, all from the Northwest. Portland's Bill Johnson (downhill) and Seattle's Debbie Armstrong (giant slalom) also won gold, and Christin Cooper of Sun Valley took the silver behind Armstrong for an American 1-2 finish in the women's giant slalom.
The Mahre twins raced a limited World Cup schedule during the 1984 season, and retired from the circuit in March at age 26. Phil ended his career with 27 World Cup race victories, at the time second only to Stenmark's 79 wins among men's racers (who would end his career in 1989 with 86 wins), while Steve finished with 9 wins.
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