ITALY: OLYMPIC GAMES - Austrian Benjamin Raich wins the gold medal in the men's Alpine skiing giant slalom interview with and reaction of competitors

Record ID: 331727

  • Title: ITALY: OLYMPIC GAMES - Austrian Benjamin Raich wins the gold medal in the men's Alpine skiing giant slalom interview with and reaction of competitors
  • Date: 21st February 2006
  • Summary: WIDE: MORE EXTERIOR OF OLYMPIC NEWS CONFERENCE VENUE WITH MOUNTAIN BEHIND
  • Embargoed: 8th March 2006 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Italy
  • Country: Italy
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVAESQ6UXVYYMIHLB4AGMX4BANSD
  • Story Text: Austrian Benjamin Raich stormed through to win the gold medal in the men's Alpine skiing giant slalom at the Turin Olympics on Monday (February 20) after first-leg leader Francois Bourque of Canada faltered.
    Raich, the World Cup champion in the discipline, moved up from fifth place after the first leg with a sizzling second run down the Sises piste.
    It was the 27-year-old Raich's first Olympic title and compensation for his disappointment in the combined event last Tuesday when he skied out of the slalom second leg while leading and in the super-G when he finished 21st.
    "I feel really good. It was a big goal of mine. There are not a lot of chances - only once every for years at the Olympic Games. You have to be in top form and then you have to be way up front among the leaders and I was able to do that and I'm overjoyed," Raich told Reuters Television.
    His comments came after Austrian biathletes and cross-country skiers were forced to undertake dope tests in a raid by Italian police late on Saturday (February 18) after searching for banned Austrian coach Walter Mayer.
    "It was tough yesterday. I don't have a lot of details, but it was not a very good feeling with regards to the doping checks. Today we were very successful and there will be a big party tonight," Raich said about the raids.
    Frenchman Joel Chenal, 32, captured his first Olympic medal with silver, just 0.07 seconds behind Raich's time of two minutes 35.00 seconds, and Austrian Hermann Maier added a bronze to the super-G silver he won on Saturday.
    "The race was very good. It was a good day for me and I am very proud to have won a silver medal for France," Chenal said of his silver medal win.
    "What surprised me most was my good first slalom. I finished second. After that Benny Raich had a great second slalom so it was up to me to do everything I could to get on the podium, but I still felt that I had it in me to get on the podium," he added.
    Maier, who finished 0.16 seconds behind Raich, was left with the bronze medal. But he was upbeat about Raich's gold and Michaela Dorfmeister's golf in the women's Super-G.
    "Nice! It's great yeah. It's good," he said of Austrian success.
    American Bode Miller produced a charging second run to move up from 12th after the first leg but could finish only joint sixth. He has now failed to win a medal in four events at the Games.
    Canadian Bourque, who had been 0.19 seconds ahead of Chenal in the first leg, lost his rhythm on the second run and finished fourth, 0.92 seconds behind Raich.
    Swede Fredrik Nyberg, third in the opening run, also missed out on a first Olympic medal at the age of 36, ending up fifth.
    Raich has been one of the leading skiers on the World Cup in recent seasons. He finished second to Miller in last year's overall cup and leads the standings this season. ENDS.
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