Janica's fitness battle

"It's not very good news, she's ill," Kostelic's father, Ante, told Eurosport. "She's not well mentally and she has a temperature of 37.2°c. It's not a question of being tired, it's just that she still has this virus."

Kostelic, 25, has been suffering from on-going flu since winning a World Cup slalom race in Ofterschwang at the beginning of the month. She was expected to race in all five disciplines in this year's Winter Games but was forced to withdraw from Wednesday's downhill, won by Michaela Dorfmeister of Austria, due to a high pulse rate.

"She feels a little bit better, but not good," admitted the Croatian Skiing Team coach Vedran Pavlek. "She went to training today and so that is a good sign."

Pavlek denied that a heart condition was to blame for his skier's illness. "No, she has a high pulse but only because she's a bit ill," he said.

Both men are quietly confident that Kostelic will race in the combined event but refused to confirm anything until her condition was re-evaluated on Friday before the downhill race.

"We think she will be racing tomorrow but we will make a final decision at 9am tomorrow," Pavlek said. "Of course, she wants to race - she was crying when she missed the downhill - but we'll have to wait and see. Between health and racing, health is more important."

Ante Kostelic added: "I think she will take part, but if she does not feel ready then nobody will force her to compete."

In the Salt Lake City games in 2002 Kostelic won gold medals in the Combined, Giant Slalom and Slalom events, and a silver medal in the Super G.

Since having a thyroid operation two years ago, Kostelic has fought a running battle with a host of health problems including eye and knee surgery.

But the Croat ski ace looked to have put her injury worries behind her when she won golds in the Downhill, Slalom and Combined in the 2005 World Championships.