Diary: Forever golden

ByEurosport

Published 27/02/2006 at 22:23 GMT

From Michael Greis' first gold of the Games to Sweden's final golden slapshot, here are our finest moments from sixteen days in Turin. Read about days one through eight in Part One.

BIATHLON 2006 Torino 2006 Mass Start Men Greis

Image credit: Reuters

DAY ONE: Golden Greis

Foreboding Germany's dominance over the medal table, Michael Greis wins the first gold of the Games in the 20km individual biathlon. Greis overcomes bright sunshine, a tricky range, and SLC star Ole Einar Bjoerndalen. He misses one shot, skis a near perfect race, and beats Norway's Bjoerndalen by a full 16 seconds.

BIATHLON 2006 Torino 2006 Germany Individual Men Greis

Image credit: dpa

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By the end of the Turin Games Germany will have 11 gold medals, 12 silvers, and six bronzes. Out of Germany's Turin-leading medal count of 11 golds, five of those will come in the biathlon.

And Michael Greis will have a golden trigger in three.

DAY TWO: Deneriaz "on another planet"

Antoine Deneriaz, an unheralded, unknown Frenchman who hadn't seen a World Cup podium since November 2004, becomes the Man of the Games' first two days with the downhill of a lifetime.

Racing last of the contenders, Deneriaz has to beat heavy favourite and downhill World Cup No. 1 Michael Walchhofer's blazing time of one minute and 49.52 seconds.

Up 0.14 seconds at the first split, Deneriaz only gains time at each successive check, going up 0.42 seconds, 0.70 seconds, and ultimately winning Turin's first Alpine gold by an astonishing 0.72 seconds. Deneriaz can't believe it himself, saying he was on another planet.

American favourite Daron Rahlves puts it differently.

"I was a little surprised by Deneriaz," an incredulous Rahlves tells Eurosport. "On the top, he just kept going. Seven tenths! The guy was possessed."

DAY THREE: Zhang and Zhang steal the show

Leaving the shadow of the of the Salt Lake City judging scandal completely behind, a revamped Olympic scoring system premiers in the finale of the pairs event, the same discipline that caused all the trouble four years prior.

Zhang Hao and Zhang Dan (no relation) of China take one of the most astonishing medals of the Games, winning silver after Dan crashes in the splits position on their first throw attempt at the unprecedented quadruple Salchow spin.

As she describes it, Zhang Dan "had to turn four revolutions in the air and a huge distance and then I hit the boards."

The Zhangs take a five minute break, regain their composure, and skate to the silver medal with a beautiful free programme despite a strained knee ligament for Dan.

OLYMPIC GAMES 2006 Torino 2006 Hao Zhang and Dan Zhang pairs figure skating silver medallist

Image credit: Reuters

After the Zhangs' performance a packed Palavela stadium explodes in a standing ovation. Even the fans of the rival Russians are left standing in amazement as Hao holds his partner Dan in his arms and sports the biggest smile of the early Games.

The silver makes it almost easy to overlook Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin's perfect free skate, which won them the gold in their final performance as a pair.

REPORT: Marinin and Totmianina retire on a high note

DAY FOUR: Raich's disaster makes for Ligety glory

After the busiest men's Alpine day of the Olympics with one downhill and two slalom runs, World No. 1, dead favourite, and leader after two runs Benjamin Raich surrenders what would be his first Olympic gold in the last race of the night.

Losing time through the first two splits, Raich misses a gate midway through the course, skiing out of his first Olympic title, and handing World Cup slalom No. 3 Ted Ligety the gold.

ALPINE SKIING 2005-2006 Torino 2006 USA Ligety

Image credit: dpa

Amazingly, the American won on the basis of two slalom runs, making up a 2.20 second deficit, which placed him in 22nd place after the downhill portion.

"After the downhill I didn't think I'd have a chance," Ligety told Eurosport. "But to have made up so much time is unbelievable.

DAY FIVE: Ahn Hyun-soo good

South Korea stamp their authority on the sport of short track skating with a brilliant day on the ice.

Soon after teenager Jin Sun-yu sweeps past the pack to win the 1,500m gold, Ahn Hyun-soo wins his second of three short track golds.

SHORT TRACK 2006 Torino 2006 Ahn Hyun-Soo

Image credit: Reuters

Ahn pips teammate Ho-Suk Lee by a mere 0.025 seconds passing his compatriot in a photo finish.

Finishing seventh in the medal table, Korea would ultimately prove the most successful Asian nation at the Games with six golds, all in short track.

DAY SIX: More than a Smigun of gold

Kristina Smigun becomes Estonia's shining hero winning her second cross-country gold medal in four days and becoming the first double-gold medallist at Turin.

Smigun darts around the wet and demanding 10km course in a time of 27 minutes and 51.4 seconds, a whopping 21.3 seconds ahead of Marit Bjoergen, the World No. 1 and dead-favourite heading into the Games.

CROSS-COUNTRY SKIING 2006 turin kristina smigun gold torino

Image credit: Reuters

"Smigun has been very good for a long time for many years. I knew that she was going to be the strongest," Bjoergen says after the race. "She is in good shape now, and that's good for her. But I hope to take a gold medal before I go home."

Bjoergen would leave disappointed and without a gold medal, as would Norway finishing 13th in the medal table with only two golds.

DAY SEVEN: The flop of a lifetime

In the Olympic premier of the women's snowboard cross event American Lindsey Jacobellis throws away certain gold when she grabs her board on the penultimate jump in what looks like certain showboating during a certain victory.

SNOWBOARD 2006 turin lindsey Jacobellis

Image credit: Reuters

The world champion crashes into the snow less than 100metres from the finish to the laughter and astonishment of the entire audience.

Switzerland's Tanja Frieden grabs an unlikely gold medal, and Jacobellis is left with one of the most bitter silver medals of the game.

DAY EIGHT: The King and Queen of Olympic Alpine

The Games reach their midway point, and for the Alpine skiing contests, the Turin Olympics reach their peak.

After badly injuring his knee in the downhill race a week prior, three-time Olympic champion Kjetil Andre Aamodt pulled out of the combined and said "I don't know if I will race any more in these Olympics."

After conceding his combined title, Aamodt makes a last-minute decision to defend his super-G title on day eight. It pays off. Aamodt wins his fourth Olympic gold, third in the super-G, and the 34-year-old Norwegian becomes the most successful Alpine skier in Olympic history.

ALPINE SKIING 2005-2006 Torino 2006 Super G Men Norway Aamodt

Image credit: dpa

Thirty minute later Aamodt is joined by his female counterpart, Croatian comeback Queen Janica Kostelic, who skis a brilliant combined to win her fourth Olympic title despite an illness that kept her out of the women's downhill.

After speeding to the victory in the downhill portion of the inverted combined race (order of race was reversed due to weather), Kostelic says she had considered not defending her combined title, but ultimately decided to go for it.

"I always ski good when I'm sick, I try to push myself more," says the now four-time Olympic champion.

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