Tommy Moe was a two-time loser as a teenager. Twice he was caught smoking marijuana and kicked off ski teams. In order to help his son, his dad forced Moe to work long hours at back-breaking work. Though it was hard at the time, Moe now says it was the best thing that ever happened to him. When he stood at the top of the mountain before the Olympic men's downhill ski race, he wanted to travel as fast as he could to reach his dad at the bottom of the slope.

Thomas Sven Moe was born February 14, 1970, in Missoula, Montana. His father, Tom Sr., was a steel contractor. His ancestors were from Norway and his great-great-grandfather had come to the United States in the 1800s. Moe still has 12 relatives in Oslo, the capital of Norway. He has a brother and a sister, and when their parents divorced...