updated 2:43 p.m. ET Jan. 10, 2006

ADELBODEN, Switzerland - Bode Miller is unhappy with the way his interview with “60 Minutes,” in which he said partying had affected his performance in the past, was characterized in excerpts and media accounts.

“We are very saddened to see that what is considered the pre-eminent news show in U.S. history has set off a firestorm by headlining a press release on a Bode Miller profile with an out-of-context and salacious headline involving drunkenness,” Lowell Taub, the ski star’s agent, said in a statement Saturday.

Taub added that what appeared in the media “as a ’news story’ was nothing more than a promotion for a television program.”

Miller, who became the first U.S. skier to win the overall World Cup title in 22 years last season, refused to speak with reporters following his 14th-place finish in Saturday’s giant slalom, which was won by Benjamin Raich of Austria.

In written excerpts released Thursday by CBS for the segment that will be broadcast Sunday, Miller said “there have been times when I’ve been in really tough shape at the top of the course.”

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“Talk about a hard challenge right there. ... If you ever tried to ski when you’re wasted, it’s not easy,” Miller said. “Try and ski a slalom when ... you hit a gate less than every one second, so it’s risky. You’re putting your life at risk. ... It’s like driving drunk, only there are no rules about it in ski racing.”

Asked if the risk meant he would never ski drunk again, the 28-year-old Miller replied, “No, I’m not saying that.”

Catherine Olian, who produced the segment for ’60 Minutes’ and said she stands by it, told The Associated Press that Miller’s comments were made in a “lighthearted moment.”

“It is a very small part of a piece about a very accomplished skier,” Olian said, adding that Miller was “very cooperative.”

“I hope to hear their honest opinion of what they think of the story after it airs,” she said, adding she did not put together the written excerpts that were released.

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Miller has drawn attention — and criticism — for his outspokenness before. He has called anti-doping rules in skiing that he deems too strict “a joke,” and was fined last month for refusing to take a boot test after a World Cup slalom race. He has also talked about launching a rebel ski tour.

Taub said the statements released earlier in the week were an attempt to get higher ratings.

“We hope that the profile this coming Sunday evening will bare out that Bode is a one-of-a-kind American athlete — boundless talent and integrity coupled with straight forward honesty and self-evaluation,” Taub said.

U.S. team officials declined to comment.

International Ski Federation President Gian Franco Kasper said he felt sorry for Miller but that the American’s statement did not endanger the sport’s reputation.

“It’s his own mistake,” he told the AP by telephone. “It’s completely stupid that he said it and not exactly what he should tell young people. We aren’t really concerned (for the sport). I think everyone knows it’s stupidity. I feel sorry for him because he’s killing his reputation.

“But there is no minimal IQ limit within alpine skiing.”

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