"My job is to help win medals," said Adam Chadbourne '97 in 2003, after he was appointed head coach of the U.S. Ski Team's development squad on the men's side.



As of Feb. 14, he can consider the job accomplished.



Alpine skier Ted Ligety, who was coached by Chadbourne in 2003-04, won the sole U.S. men's alpine gold at the 2006 Torino Olympics.

Not that Chadbourne, a former Bates alpine skier, will take any credit. "I'm just really proud of what he's done," says Chadbourne.

Chadbourne recalls that Ligety was "at the back of the pack," in terms of his skills, when he first joined the developmental team. "In training, we always talked about pace, about chasing others" who are better, Chadbourne says. "Ted worked exceptionally hard. Having ambition is huge, and while he may not have had the talent early on, he had three times the desire."

After serving as a member of the U.S. Ski Team coaching staff since 1999 (and chasing snow around the globe for most of the year), Chadbourne recently became head coach and director of the alpine program at Burke Mountain Academy in Vermont. He and his wife, Alison Megroz Chadbourne '00, live in Lyndon Center.

At age 21, Ligety, who won the combined event — an all-day event comprising one downhill and two slalom runs — is the youngest U.S. alpine gold-medal winner ever, and the U.S. men have won just four gold medals ever. "For a male to be at that level, at that age, it's nearly an abberation," says an impressed Chadbourne.