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" When you&amp;#039;re an athlete at the Olympic level, it&amp;#039;s the little things that distinguish one competitor&amp;#039;s near-perfect efforts from the other, hair&amp;#039;s-breadth differences shaving away nanoseconds to determine gold from silver, bronze, and going home empty handed. This is a fact American skier Bode Miller knows, now all too well, after finishing eighth in the men&amp;#039;s downhill ski finals, an event he was favored to win and had strong showings in right up to the final race. In a race where top performers consistently hit speeds exceeding a wind-whipping 80 miles per hour, Miller&amp;#039;s weakness wasn&amp;#039;t his constitution, or a technical error, though he did note that the snow conditions were less than ideal. It was the sun, or, rather, lack of sun, that dashed his dream of adding a sixth Olympic medal to his trophy case. Bode Miller has some vision issues - ones that can be easily corrected, but that, unfortunately, his rigorous racing and training schedule precluded a simple, out-patient treatment. Yep, Bode Miller just became the best spokesman for Lasik Surgery ever. Performed using a laser, LASIK, or Laser Assisted in situ Keratomileusis, is the laser reshaping of the cornea to improve vision, and provides a permanent alternative to glasses or contact. According to Miller, the difference between cloudy conditions and full sun is enough to affect his sight beyond the threshold of making the right decisions on the course. Just how important is good vision when barreling down the slopes? Check out this first person video of the Sochi course:      &amp;quot;I haven&amp;#039;t won in five years when the sun is not out,&amp;quot; a crestfallen Miller told the AP, admitting that he was supposed to go under the laser earlier in 2014. While this seems like a rather glaring oversight as far as the years of preparation and training that an athlete of his caliber undergoes, he can at least rest easy knowing that, while his bags will be shy the 375 grams or so of a shiny new medal, once he returns home he can pick up a lucrative endorsement deal with the American Academy of Ophthalmology. Which, long term, has to be worth a lot more than the mostly-silver-and-copper content, gold electro-plated first place Olympic medal. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.com/sports/news/a27298/bode-miller-just-became-the-best-lasik-spokesman-ever/>