Greece's skiing hero AJ Ginnis exclusive: Influenced by Hercules and Greek mythology but coached by his friends

How does it feel to make winter sports history for your country?

A few days after becoming the first Greek athlete ever to win a World Championship medal at a snow or ice event, alpine skiing's latest sensation Alexandros Ioannis ‘AJ’ Ginnis still can’t come to terms with the magnitude of his achievement.

“This morning when I woke up again and I opened up my phone, I've got thousands of messages and pictures and everything, and it's, like, starting to register, but it’s a slow process,” the newly crowned world silver medallist in slalom said during a video-call with Olympics.com, only a few hours after arriving in Palisades Tahoe, California, for this weekend’s World Cup slalom.

The skier left the FIS World Championships Courchevel Meribel 2023 right after the last race on Sunday (19 February) and had no time to process the fact that he’s now a silver medallist “Nothing's really changed. It's like, you know, business as usual. The only difference is that I have a silver medal in my bag,” he said with a big smile following his flight from France.

Some Greek celebrities, like tennis player Stefanos Tsitsipas praised his compatriot on social media, a space where the 28-year-old gained thousands of new followers just over a few hours.

Greece’s Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis also called Ginnis for the second time in as many weeks - the first occasion being his historic podium in Chamonix early this month - and renewed his invite to go skiing together.

AJ Ginnis: Back on the podium with Kristoffersen eight years later

Before this season, Ginnis had earned World Cup points in just two races after making his debut in 2014 with team USA.

“I feel like I’ve always been a good skier. Especially in training, I train with a lot of teams and I know where my level is at,” the former Dartmoth College racer said.

Last December in Val d’Isere, France, he finished 12^th in his first event after two years, and - despite being later disqualified for straddling - that result gave him ‘a lot of confidence.’

After that, he managed to finish in the top 30 only in one of the next six races as high bib numbers forced him to ski under unfavorable conditions.

“But then in Chamonix, the conditions were perfect, it was icy, like it was a fair race. There it was like the same for everybody and it didn't matter if you started first or last, you had a chance,” admitted Athens-born Ginnis, who set up Team Greece after he was dropped from the US slalom team in 2018.

The same happened at the worlds, where he started with bib No. 24 instead of 45.

“I finished second after the first run and I was like,’ Oh, this is so much better. You know, I'm not fighting ruts, I'm not fighting people's lines. I'm just kind of doing what I want to do,” he explained.

“Then in the second run, at the start house, I had one of the most intense moments of my life so far. It was so quiet and it was like Clement (Noel), Linus (Strasser), (Lucas) Braathen, me, (Manuel) Feller, just all in line waiting to go. Everybody you could see was just so nervous and people’s hands were twitching and shaking and you're just like, ‘Well, I've never been here before, but this is kind of cool.’

“When I crossed the finish line, I didn't think I did enough because I also knew how close the race was. So then when I looked up, the first thing I saw was 12. And then I looked back and it says +20. And I was like, Is that for the run or what? And then I see the big two, and I was like, ‘Oh, okay, that works!"

Ginnis previously won a bronze medal at the 2015 junior World Championships in Hafjell, Norway. He still has a framed picture of him on the podium with Henrik Kristoffersen and Marco Schwarz, while Loic Meillard and Clement Noel were tied for fourth.

“I was literally the only one on the picture who had never gotten a medal. And that always acted as a source of motivation,” the slalom specialist said.

“It’s also cool that in the top six, four of us were in that picture: Henrik won, I was second, Marco Schwarz was sixth, and Clement Noel fourth!”

AJ Ginnis: The benefits of being coached by two friends

While the biggest ski nations have numerous staff members to support their skiers, from coaches to service men, Ginnis relies on a very small team.

“The last two weeks we've had two podiums, and I think it's absolutely hilarious when you see the big teams go up for the podium picture and there is like 50 people there. And then, you know, we go up and it's like three or four of us! And it's kind of funny. I think it's cool,” Greece’s history-maker admitted to Olympics.com

His coaches are Sandy Vietz and Gaby Coulet. 

Vietz was a former classmate from high school and then team-mate on the US ski team, while French-born Coulet, who left a well paid job in marketing in Canada last winter, used to be roommates with Vietz at the University of Vermont.

“That was like a big reason this whole thing happened,” Ginnis said.

“My mum called me yesterday and said, ‘AJ there’s no way you could have done this without this structure.' It might not work for everybody, but I think it definitely works for me. It works for us. It's definitely hard, you know, it's not easy to do this, to live like this, especially because it costs a lot of money.

“We work hard, work extremely hard on the hill and off the hill. One of my coaches also works on my skis. And honestly the best part is at dinner or breakfast we're like three friends sitting together and maybe have a beer to talk about, you know, sports or stuff you do with your friends. So when you're on the road, it kind of takes the edge away, so to speak.”

When the organisers don’t provide for accommodation, as happens at big events, Ginnis and his coaches have to plan their trip by themselves, booking B&B apartments and cooking food on their own: “I'm chasing my dream, I want to keep skiing. And it's honestly very humbling and honouring to just see my coaches embark on this journey with me.”

AJ Ginnis: Influenced by Hercules and Greek mythology

Ginnis was born in Athens and raised in the coastal town of Vouliagmeni, near the Greek capital.

During winters, he spent time with his family at their house in Arachova, a ski resort on Mount Parnassus, where his dad ran a ski school and owned a shop. His mum is a dentist and grew up in New York, raised by her Greek parents, who moved to the States in the 1950s.

When he was 12, the slalom specialist followed his dad for three years to Kiprun, Austria, before enrolling at the Green Mountain Valley School in Vermont as his family settled in the USA: “In terms of blood I’m 100% Greek, just culture is where it breaks down,” the skier - who's fluent in three languages - shared.

Mount Parnassus is more associated with ancient mythology than skiing, but it’s on those slopes that Ginnis had his first taste of the sport at the age of three: “Greece has mountains, you know, Parnassus' peak is almost 2500 metres. So it's like a real mountain. And it's impressive,” he said.

Mythology and the stories of Hercules have always fascinated him ever since he was a third grade student, although he regrets not taking traditional dancing like sirtaki seriously.

When he feels tired or stressed, he winds down playing his favourite video game ‘Assassin’s Creed Odyssey,’ in which the main character is engaged in missions around ancient Greece.

“Greece is really cool with that aspect because people have a lot of pride. There's rich history there, so it's easy to get hooked on it if you grew up there,” he said.

Now Ginnis is a hero himself.

AJ Ginnis: I want to be able to fight for a medal at Milano Cortina 2026

Ginnis’ accomplishments made headlines around the world, especially for his long history of injuries, which include six knee operations (five on his left knee, the latest one on his right knee).

“I’m skiing with two knee braces. Every day I have to do something to make sure my knees are okay after training. If they swell up, I have to ice them, I have to bike. I need to do a 35-minute warm-up every single morning just to get on the hill before I do my other work. So it’s like constant upkeep, it’s part of my everyday routine,” he explained.

The Europe-born skier shared how surgeries have taken a toll on his body: “You just accept that there's limitations. I accept that if I ski all day, I can't do anything afterwards. Maybe I can bike, but there's no way I can go play tennis or soccer or anything like that,” he added.

Ginnis, who is unable to fully bend his left leg, admitted that he was close to giving up, but after going to the last Winter Olympics as a commentator-analyst for NBC he changed his mind: “I came back from Beijing and I was like, ‘I'm not done yet.’ Like, that was too cool of an experience and I told myself, ‘I need to experience that first-hand. I want to be able to compete here or try to do it at least.”

AJ Ginnis: My goals remain the same

Following his two back-to-back podiums, in Palisades Tahoe, Ginnis will have the chance to start from the group of the top 15 and his next goal is making the top seven.

"It's a big step," he admitted.

"But I have been at the back of World Cups for so many years so this is for me like a dream, I’m just so motivated, more than last year.”

The Greek skier is reminiscent of the promise he made himself when making his comeback: “If I'm going to continue with the sport, I'm going to go as hard as I can and have as much fun as I can doing it.”

Nothing's changed, he added: “Hopefully our budget gets a little more comfortable so that two people don't have to sleep on the same couch. This is the stuff that I want to change, have a little more comfort for me and my coaches. But, you know, everything else stays the same and the goals remain the same.

“I have absolutely no pressure, I ski for Greece. Like, I can see how tough it is for some of these bigger nations, when countries don't bring performance. But for me, it's like no one expects much. If Greece got a medal, history is written and I get a lot of credit along with my team. But if we get no medals, it's expected. So I do have that comfort and I’m very aware of it.”