Hermann Maier was born on December 7, 1972 in Austria. He currently resides there as well, making the town of Reitdorf his base. Reitdorf is in Flachau, the heart of the Salzburg Sportwelt Amande. This area is one of the biggest skiing areas in Austria, and since his parents owned a ski school as well, Hermann began skiing at a young age.
He never really considered skiing competitively though, and started working as a bricklayer at the age of 16. His skiing abilities shined through however, and in '95-'96 he won the European Ski Cup and later joined the Austrian National World Cup Team. The rest is now history, as Hermann began to dominate the World Cup circuit which he continues to do today.