With his film “Return of Flame”, Fabien Maierhofer, specialist in freeride skiing, questions the legacy left by the Winter Olympics, through a “road trip” between Mount Olympus, Sarajevo and Mont Blanc .
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A journey of almost 10,000 kilometers. Skier Fabien Maierhofer has just published his film Retour de Flamme, Sunday December 22, in which he questions the Winter Olympics. A production where the Savoyard travels to Greece, Italy, Serbia and France, alternating visits to Olympic sites with major ski descents.
“France 3 Alpes: Why choose this theme of the remains of the Olympic Games?
Fabien Maierhofer: At the beginning, we were going to do the GR20 on skis, in Corsica, but it didn’t snow enough. Finally, we thought about it, we chose to make a film for the 100th anniversary of the Games in Chamonix, then on the history of the Winter Games.
All this happened at the last moment. We had less than a week of preparation, and we didn’t take a translator with us. We showed up in Greece, without knowing if we would have good conditions on Mount Olympus, if there would be enough snow for skiing. But it could also have been dangerous if it had snowed too much, like during the 2023 season. We should have done differently in this case.
How did you feel while browsing these sites?
It depends on the location. In Cortina, Italy, it’s beautiful for example. But then when we got to Sarajevo, Serbia, it’s a completely different vibe. It is a city where there is an Olympic museum, and another on the war.
We feel that they wanted to have a perfect Olympics, which included the ecological impact, but the fighting ruined everything. There are painted over shell holes in the city, and the Olympic structures are almost abandoned. It still remains my favorite stop of the trip, the city is magnificent.
What thoughts do you draw from this on the future of the Olympic Games?
For me, building the Games without thinking about tomorrow is no longer possible, when we see these Olympic installations abandoned in Sarajevo, but also in Turin or Cortina. The ecological impact is significant, and it is also regrettable that citizens have to pay for the Olympics. In Albertville, for example, the housing tax exploded because of the organization of the event.
More recently, Paris 2024 left magnificent images, but throwing so much money at cleaning up the Seine, I don’t think it’s useful. For the Winter Games, in the Alps, in 2030, we were given no choice, so my goal is also to raise awareness with this film, if it can open a debate, so much the better. The Olympics are neither black nor white, there are many factors to think about.”
