For the first time in more than a decade, a world cup ski season has begun without Alberto Tomba in the gates, an absence that pains not just slalom aficionados and fawning reporters, but all. True, Tomba's freshly declared retirement at age 32 lowers the curtain on an astonishing run. No alpine skier has outdone his winning of medals at three successive Olympic Games; his 50 career World Cup victories are bested only by Ingemar Stenmark. Perhaps Alberto's greatest legacy, however, is an intellectual one: his uncanny grasp of the human predicament, his knack for always having just the right bon mot at hand, his refusal to leave any conundrum of life or any female under 30 unexamined. And who better to sum up this thoughtful heritage, this aggregate of accumulated wisdom, than the Oracle of Bologna himself and those who have basked in his glow?

Alberto and the Importance of Humility
"Sono una bestia!" ("I am a beast!")
Tomba, crossing the finish line for his first World Cup victory, Sestriere, Italy, 1987

"I am the new messiah of skiing!"
Tomba, after winning his fourth consecutive World Cup race, 1987

"When I start to really try to win, then perhaps I will have to give my opponents a three-second head start instead of the one second I give them now."
Tomba, 1987

"Right before the second run of the Olympic slalom at Calgary, everyone was very tense. All the racers were nervous. Alberto went up to an opponent and said, 'Don't worry. There's no reason to be tense. I'm going to beat everyone. There's no reason to worry, because I'm the only one who needs to worry, since I'm going to win. There's no way you can win.'"
Paolo De Chiesa, former Italian World Cup skier

"A lot of people don't like him because he is so full of himself."
Marco Fontanesi, sports agent and friend of Tomba

"[My girlfriend] is very jealous when she sees me on the television surrounded by so many girls. They are all devouring me with their eyes. I think this upsets her."
Tomba, 1988

"When you're Alberto, you're everything."
Posters along the Olympic giant slalom course at Val d'Isˆre, France, 1992