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Bode finally earns Olympic gold
Associated Press
February 21, 2010
Whistler, BC — Bode Miller finally won his elusive gold medal, using a blistering slalom run Sunday to complete one of the most unlikely Olympic comebacks ever.
Four years after bombing out amid lofty expectations at the Turin Games and a year after practically walking away from the sport, Miller won the super-combined for his third medal in as many events at Vancouver.
Seventh after the morning downhill run, Miller skied the third-fastest afternoon slalom leg for a two-run time of 2 minutes, 44.92 seconds -- a comfortable 0.33 ahead of Ivica Kostelic of Croatia, who matched his silver medal at Turin. Silvan Zurbriggen of Switzerland claimed bronze, 0.40 back.
For a guy who has insisted that medals aren't important, this one clearly was special.
"The way I executed, the way I skied, is something I'll be proud of the rest of my life," Miller said.
"I skied with 100 percent heart -- I didn't hold anything back. ... It's just awesome. There's nothing else to say."
Having skipped summer training while he debated retiring, Miller nearly didn't have enough energy to hold on as he came over the final pitch of the slalom course.
"My legs started feeling really wobbly," he said. "I didn't even feel like I was looking at the gate anymore."
Miller has also won a silver and a bronze at the Vancouver Games -- a sharp contrast from his no-medal performance in Turin, where he made more headlines for his late-night partying than his skiing.
Miller said he was running on "fumes" following his first two races, the downhill and the super-G.
"I felt awesome about it," he said. "But still, it's incredibly emotionally exhausting to do it like that.
"I've got one leg that's injured and another leg that's on my boat already," he added, looking forward to his postseason vacation.
Miller and Kostelic were 1-2 when downhill leader Aksel Lund Svindal came down, and when the big Norwegian failed to complete his slalom leg, Miller had the gold medal that had eluded him since he burst onto the scene at Salt Lake City in 2002.
"I figured they both had really good runs, so I couldn't hold back," Svindal said. "I had to attack it if I had any chance to get that gold."
Miller was faster than Svindal on the upper section of the downhill run, but acknowledged a series of mistakes on the lower part. Still, having begun his career as a slalom specialist, he wasn't counting himself out and charged all the way down in the second leg.
Miller increased his lead at both checkpoints in the slalom. He skied fluidly on the top, then started to get bounced up in the air as he tried to maintain his speed on the quicker gates in the lower section, dropping some speed before the finish but maintaining enough to beat Kostelic.
Miller let out a big smile upon crossing the finish line and stuck out his tongue while the crowd roared its approval.
Carlo Janka of Switzerland finished fourth and Ted Ligety, the American who won the traditional combined in Turin, finished fifth despite posting the fastest slalom run.
When Ligety won four years ago, the combined used the traditional format of one downhill run and two slalom legs. With only one slalom run now, the new format doesn't favor Ligety as much, and he had too much ground to make up after placing 15th in the downhill.
Still, Ligety was pleased to have Miller replace him as Olympic champion -- adding to his four world championship golds in four different disciplines.
"He's been really motivated," Ligety said. "It's cool to really see him win an Olympic gold. That's what's been missing from his resume."
In another stellar day for the U.S. team, Will Brandenburg posted the second-fastest slalom run and finished 10th overall in his Olympic debut. The Spokane, Washington, resident did not finish the only four World Cup races he entered.
Miller won two silvers at Salt Lake City and opened these games by taking bronze in the downhill and silver in the super-G. With five overall, he is tied with Italy's Alberto Tomba and Norway's Lasse Kjus for second on the all-time Alpine list for men, trailing only the eight by Kjetil Andre Aamodt of Norway.
Miller's victory boosted the U.S. medal tally in Alpine skiing at the Vancouver Games to a record eight -- already three more than the five from Sarajevo in 1984 -- with four races remaining.
Winning the super-combined was appropriate for Miller, who has always been proud of his overall skiing ability. Super-combined adds the times from one downhill run and one slalom leg -- meaning it is a true test of an overall skier.
Miller won two overall World Cup titles -- the first in 2004-05 and the second in 2007-08 in his first season racing independently from the U.S. Ski Team. After debating all summer whether to even return to skiing, Miller rejoined the U.S. team in September and hastily prepared for the World Cup season.
His true goal, he now acknowledges, was preparing to redeem himself at the Olympics.
Over the years, Miller traditionally started the World Cup season in October strongly and wore himself down by February. But by targeting his entire season around the games, he entered in better form -- and with a better mindset -- than he did in Turin.
"Coming into the season out of shape was kind of a bonus for him," Ligety said. "I think it helped him peak."
After the victory ceremony, Miller celebrated and posed for pictures in the finish area with all his coaches on the U.S. team.
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A modern-day Olympic Houdini
By Mark Lamport-Stokes
February 21, 2010
Whistler, BC — Norway’s Petter Northug, like a modern-day Houdini, performed another disappearing act on Saturday after fading to 11th in the men’s cross country 30km pursuit he had been heavily expected to win.
The world champion had been perfectly poised to challenge for the title in a sprint finish before breaking one of his poles after colliding with Swede Marcus Hellner on an uphill stretch with 1.5 kilometres to go.
Hellner went on to clinch the gold medal by 2.1 seconds after he burst clear of the leading pack while Northug, frustrated by his own misfortune, evaded reporters gathered around the finish line.
The 24-year-old Norwegian, always in demand by the media in his homeland where cross-country skiing is a revered sport, has mastered the art of keeping a low profile when required.
Earlier this week at Whistler Olympic Park, Northug changed his bib number at the end of a race and managed to brush past reporters expecting him to be wearing a different number.
Efforts by media to locate the race favourite proved fruitless after Saturday’s 30km pursuit, and Norwegian’s team spokesman Rolf Nereng said the skier was too upset to talk.
“He was not at all happy,” Nereng told Reuters. “When his pole was broken, his competition (in the race) was over. He thought he was so close (to winning) when they clashed.
“Hellner was behind Petter and Petter was not happy with what happened. He thought he had good control of the race the whole way.”
Hellner, who won his first Olympic medal after covering the twisting eight-loop course in one hour, 15 minutes 11.4 seconds, spoke about the collision after the race.
“I think I was on the left side of the track,” the 24-year-old Swede told reporters. “He went before me a little bit too tight and I couldn’t go anywhere. We, how do you say, mashed up a little bit.
“I saw his pole was out and it’s bad for him. It’s nobody’s wish to get that but I saw he got a new pole. It didn’t take so long and the pace wasn’t so hard when he was out with the pole. I don’t know how he feels but I think it was an accident.”
Perhaps the biggest problem for Northug, a winner of three gold meals at last year’s world championships in Liberec, Czech Republic, has been the huge level of expectation heaped upon him since he arrived in Whistler.
He had planned to compete in all six men’s events on the cross-country programme in his Winter Games debut and most of his fans would have banked on a haul of at least three Olympic golds.
So far, however, Northug has placed 41st in the men’s 15km freestyle, won bronze in the individual sprint and finished 11th in the 30km pursuit.
“He has a lot of pressure, more than what we used to have,” former Norwegian cross country skier Vegard Ulvang, a winner of three gold medals at the 1992 Albertville Games, told Reuters.
“He also is very free spoken. I think he was born quite shy and he is not a man of many words but the few words he says are really strong. Sometimes that creates him a little trouble.”
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