WHISTLER, B.C. - When Giuliano Razzoli crossed the finish line to wrap up Olympic alpine racing in Whistler, Italians in the crowd yelled as if they were in pain. Strangers exchanged hugs. There were tears. In the media center in Vancouver, someone with a distinctly Italian accent got on the loudspeaker and said, "Finally. A gold medal for Italy."
The 25-year-old has focused only on slalom this season and the effort got him his first World Cup victory of his career in Zagreb.
While an astonishing 40 racers crashed or straddled gates in the first run at Whistler on Saturday, Razzoli ended up on top, then held his lead to the glorious finish, winning with a combined time of 1 minute, 39.32 seconds, dancing a tight line through two tricky gate sets in the wet snow and rain.
"It's unbelievable. I have won the Olympic Games and it's incredible. It's my dream for a long time," he said. "It was difficult after the first run because I was fast, but I know that I can win and I have done it."
Luckily Italy's own alpine skiing icon Alberto Tomba was on hand to pass along some advice to his countryman between runs.
"This afternoon Razzoli was yawning, so I told him 'Put some snow behind your neck and wake up. And now ski wild and ski fresh,'" said Tomba, who has been making the social rounds in Whistler for the last few days.
Naturally, with a friend like Tomba, Razzoli realizes the magnificent weight an Olympic gold medal carries in his country.
"Yes, I am very well aware that expectations were very high at home," he said. "There was a lot of pressure, I tried not to think about it. I tried to do my own job, and ski the best I could. I knew this medal was important for my country and my team."
As the last day of competition opened in rain, course workers surged on after another late night, treating the course with chemicals and doing what they could to keep the heavy slush out of the race line.
One starter after another was tossed off his line in the first run, but most of those putting down early speed kept it all day. Ivica Kostelic was among them, starting his second run about six tenths back but blazing a straight line to his second Olympic medal of these Games and the third of his career. It was almost gold. Because the Croatian has spent so much time since the last Olympics in the hospital battling back injuries and ended up finishing 0.16 seconds behind the Italian, the silver medal was almost like gold.
"In the end it was almost enough for victory," he said. "Since I've been through a lot of hospitals, I've seen a lot of things. This might sound funny to you, but I don't care what color is the medal, as long as I'm healthy. All of us one day will end up in a hospital, or spending time in a hospital. Then you'll realize silver is good. If you don't win gold by 0.16 of a second, you are also happy."
Sweden's Andre Myhrer, who put a large gap in his success on the World Cup with two slalom podiums in 2005 and his only victory, which came in Beaver Creek in 2006 then wasn't on the podium again until a second place in Wengen this season, put it all together in the slush on Saturday, finishing 0.44 off the pace, enough for the bronze. With this, he closed 2006 Olympic slalom champion Benjamin Raich and with him the entire men's Austrian team, out of the medals for these Games.
Raich, who with fellow Austrians Reinfried Herbst and Rainer Schonfelder swept the podium in the last Olympic slalom, ended up fourth, just 0.05 seconds away from a medal.
"That's very disappointing for our team but we have to handle it," Raich said. "We have trained very well and we were prepared, so that was not the problem. It was close. I was fourth today, in GS we had a fourth, and also in downhill. Always close. Normally the Austrian team always has a medal but this year it was impossible to catch one. It's hard but we have to accept it."
- by Shauna Farnell
