Golden moment for Italy

Giuliano Razzoli of Italy claimed gold in the men’s slalom on Saturday at Whistler Creekside.

Ivica Kostelic of Croatia was in fourth place after the first run but took the silver in run two, while Sweden’s Andre Myhrer came from the 10th spot to win the bronze.

The last Italian to have won gold at this event was Alberto Tomba in the 1988 Calgary Olympic Games. Razzoli can now celebrate as he provided Italy with its fourth Olympic medal.

The Austrian team were the favourites headed into this event. In the 2006 Olympic Games they swept the podium and looked to do the same this time around. But that dream quickly faded.

Benjamin Raich sat in third place after run one and tried to defend his 2006 gold medal. He finished in fourth place.

Austrian teammates Marcel Hirscher and Reinfried Herbst finished fifth and 10th respectively.

The Canadian alpine team leaves the Olympics without hardware. Top finisher was Julien Cousineau who had a cleaner and faster run and moved up from 19th place to finish a respectable eighth.

His teammates Michael Janyk ended up in 13th and Trevor White in 31st place.

Canadian coach Dusan Grasic helped set-up the course and it proved to be a tricky one.

Many skiers went down in the first run as there was heavy fog and rain. Luckily, the fog finally cleared, making skiing conditions better.

“You can have lots of different conditions that are tough,” said Bode Miller to CTV after his run. “Everyone is prepared for colder harder conditions.”

The American who has won a gold, silver, and a bronze medal at these Olympic Games did not finish the race after missing a gate in the first run.

Kwame Nkrumah- Acheampong of Ghana pursued his Olympic dream when he took to the slope for the men’s slalom race. He skied in position 102, but managed to finish in 53rd after run one.

He is popularly known as the snow leopard, and became a crowd favourite after trying to accomplish what seemed impossible.

He began skiing and then trained at an indoor skiing centre to help him get to Vancouver.

“It’s all about coming down and trying to beat some people. If I beat some people, then that’s a dream come true,” the snow leopard said to CTV.

He concluded his Olympics by finishing 47th overall and he beat out one skier, but to his credit, he beat out half the competition considering many could not even finish the race.

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By: Rosa Garcia
Posted: Feb 28 2010 10:36 pm
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Filed under: Winter Games
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