The glory of Olympic success can lead to a lifetime of fame and recognition.  However, failure to live up to expectations can result in wondering what might have been.

Given the pressure of pre-Olympic hype and living up to the hopes of a nation of 300 million people, it is sometimes hard to get down on favorites whose only failure is to not finish in the top three at the world’s most prestigious sporting event.

However, given skier Bode Miller’s apparent lack of concern for his performance at Torino, Italy in February, it was a little difficult to generate sympathy for him.

The Olympic motto is “Citius, Altius, Fortius”, which means, “Swifter, Higher, Stronger.”  Miller was anything but at the Winter Games.  Well, maybe he was higher.

Arguably the best American men’s alpine skier since Phil and Steve Mahre, the New Hampshire native won two silver medals at Salt Lake City in 2002.

Miller also captured world championship titles in the downhill and super giant slalom en route to his overall World Cup title in 2005, making him a heavy favorite to take home multiple medals from Torino.

NBC made Miller one of its athletes to watch with its Olympian-sized hype machine.  He could have earned millions of dollars in endorsements and probably had his picture on a Wheaties box had he succeeded.

But things began to go wrong prior to the Olympics.

Slide show   Bode's Games See pictures of Bode Miller's 2006 Olympic performances.

First, Miller admitted on “60 Minutes” in January that he raced at least one event during the previous season while “wasted.” He also was not off to a great start in the 2005-2006 campaign, winning just one of his first 25 events while finishing in the top three just four times.

On the morning of his first race at Torino — the downhill — Miller overslept and missed the early morning course inspection, which most top racers consider vital to success.  He would be racing for the first time after making a late change from traditional layered skis to one-piece capped skis.

The result was a disappointing fifth-place finish in which he seemed extremely winded and a little thicker in the midsection than normal.

Hopes were raised days later, when Miller led after the downhill portion of the men’s combined.  However, they were quickly doused when he was disqualified for straddling a gate in the slalom portion.

Miller also did not finish the super-G after missing a gate.  He placed sixth in the giant slalom and failed to finish the slalom to cap an extremely disappointing meet.

However, Miller did not seem too upset with his results, saying he was “happy he got a chance to party and socialize at an Olympic level.”

Still competing on the World Cup circuit this season, Miller is still a little bitter about people’s expectations and reactions to his performance.

“(Last season) was a season that was a big test of my personality,” he said.  “There were a lot of people doing things that lacked a lot of integrity and lacked a lot of kindness and humanity.

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“Overall, it was a good season for me.  There were lots of times I was disappointed in the results but, like I said, results are more dependent on one of the 100 variables you can’t control than one of the five you can control.”

Another Olympian who came up short in what may have been her best chance to win a gold medal was diminutive U.S. figure skater Sasha Cohen.

Just as NBA greats Patrick Ewing, Karl Malone and John Stockton had the misfortune of playing at the same time Michael Jordan was leading the Chicago Bulls to six championships, Cohen always had skated in the shadow of Michelle Kwan.

A nine-time U.S. national champion and five-time world champion, Kwan was forced to withdraw before the start of the Olympics with a groin injury, making Cohen the best American hope to follow Tara Lipinski (1998) and Sarah Hughes (2002) to the top of the medal podium.