American alpine skier Bode Miller won gold, silver, and bronze medals at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver. Critics are saying that his victories are due in large part to his change of attitude.

Having won silver medals in men’s super-combined and men’s giant slalom at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City, Miller was a favorite going into the 2006 games in Turin, Italy. Miller was submerged in media hype when the games began. He was featured on the covers of Time and Newsweek, and a Nike commercial urged viewers to visit joinBode.com, asking them, “Are You A Bodeist?”

Miller’s personality mirrored his style of skiing: bold, reactive, impulsive, and a bit reckless. In a 2006 interview on 60 Minutes, Miller casually mentioned that a disappointing sixth place finish had been due to drinking too much the night before. He went on to compare the danger of skiing drunk to driving drunk, except there weren’t “rules about it in ski racing.”

His careless words and partying led to excessive controversy and negative press coverage, embarrassing the U.S. Olympic Ski Team and Americans in general, particularly those from Miller’s home state of New Hampshire. To make matters worse, Miller didn’t even medal in the Turin Olympics. He was disqualified from three out of the five events he competed in.

Turin left a bad taste in Miller’s mouth. After four first place victories in 2007, he left the U.S. Ski Team to race as an independent. He captured six World Cup race victories in 2008. Breaking a record with 32 lifetime wins, Miller became the most successful skier in U.S. history.

He suffered a torn ligament in his ankle in 2009, leading to a break from competition and talk of retirement, but he chose to rejoin the U.S. Ski Team in hopes of competing at the Vancouver Olympiad.

Miller has also become a father since Turin. His daughter, Neesyn Dacey, was born in February of 2008. Fatherhood seems to have made a positive change in his attitude.

A more mature Miller arrived at the 2010 Winter Games with a more inspired outlook and surprised us all by winning medals while managing to avoid acting like a douche in the process. He captured the gold medal in men’s super-combined, the silver medal in men’s super-g, and the bronze medal in men’s downhill.

“One of the things that was important to me when I came to race this year was to race with inspiration,” Miller told reporters at the men’s super-combined event.

It just goes to show that attitude is everything. When Miller was cocky and behaved badly, he failed. But when he acted with dignity and respect, he earned the highest honor there is: Olympic gold. His triumph over himself is an inspiration and a reminder that we could all use a healthy slice of humble pie from time to time.

Good for you, Bode, you clean up nice.