ITALY: OLMPIC GAMES - Austria sweep the medals in the men's slalom which closed the Alpine skiing programme at the Turin Olympics, fans celebrating

Record ID: 331820

  • Title: ITALY: OLMPIC GAMES - Austria sweep the medals in the men's slalom which closed the Alpine skiing programme at the Turin Olympics, fans celebrating
  • Date: 26th February 2006
  • Summary: SESTRIERE, ITALY (FEBRUARY 25, 2006) (REUTERS) (NIGHT SHOTS) MEN'S SLALOM GOLD MEDALLIST BENJAMIN RAICH OF AUSTRIA WALKING OUT OF CAR WITH AUSTRIAN MEDALLIST MARLIES SHILD AND WALKING INTO BUILDING SLALOM SILVER MEDALIST REINFRIED HERBST OF AUSTRIA WALKS TO BUILDING BENJAMIN RAICH WALKING OUT AFTER DOPING TEST (SOUNDBITE) (English ) MEN'S SLALOM GOLD MEDALIST, AUSTRIAN BENJAMIN RAICH SAYING: "I feel perfect, I made a perfect run, especially in the second and I am very happy. I pushed very hard, I take a lot of risk, especially for a second run and now, a second gold medal, it's perfect and unbelievable. (SOUNDBITE) (German) RAICH SAYS I knew that - especially in the second race - the track was unevenly marked. But if you want to win, you have to take a risk. So I wanted to be very courageous and go very fast, and that's what I did. And the result was perfect. I had a very good and safe run. RAICH SIGNING AUTHOGRAPHS FOR THE PRESS CENTRE STAFF (SOUNDBITE) (German) SLALOM SILVER MEDALIST, AUSTRIAN REINFRIED HERBST SAYING: "yes super, it's wonderful. I am going to change clothes and then have a great party" (SOUNDBITE) (English) SLALOM BRONZE MEDALIST, AUSTRIAN RAINER SCHOENFELDER SAYING: "I feel great. At that point I did not feel well. At that time I did not see so well, I had a problem with the lenses, they slipped a little bit away and at nearly 7/10ths of a second away I was too far away from the first and there were so many races (gates) between me and Bennie. I didn't expect to get a medal because then you have to have such a big run which is not possible normally. But I did a good run, especially the second part of the second run was great and I feel happy. MEN LOOKING ON (SOUNDBITE) (German) SCHOENFELDER SAYING: For us Austrians it is an enormous gratification that we can see that we are the number one in the world. Because it is not always easy, there are times when it seems that other nations are stronger. And today we fought back and showed that we are the number one. PEOPLE TALKING TO SCHOENFELDER VARIOUS: OF FANS CELEBRATING AFTER SLALOM EVENT (9 SHOTS) FIREWORKS LIGHT UP NIGHT SKY (2 SHOTS)
  • Embargoed: 13th March 2006 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Italy
  • Country: Italy
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVA9M1497LSZYZF8E1Z8FZIR08RB
  • Story Text: Austria swept the medals in the men's slalom which closed the Alpine skiing programme at the Turin Olympics on Saturday (February 25) with Benjamin Raich winning his second gold medal.
    Olympic rookie Reinfried Herbst took the silver with Rainer Schoenfelder adding a second bronze to the one he picked up in the combined event.
    Raich became the first man to win the two technical events at the same Games since Italian Alberto Tomba in Calgary in 1988. Tomba was a spectator in the finish area on Saturday.
    It was only the third time in Olympic history that a country had swept the board in a men's Alpine race.
    Austria took all the medals in the 1956 giant slalom and Norway filled the combined podium at the 1994 Games in Lillehammer.
    Raich finished with an overall time of 1:43.14, 0.83 seconds ahead of Herbst and just over a second clear of Schoenfelder.
    Finland's Kalle Palander, second after the first leg, set a fast time in the second run before being disqualified for straddling a gate.
    After racing fast enough to become Finland's first male Olympic medallist in Alpine skiing, Palander swiped the snow angrily with his ski pole as he watched a replay of his error on the giant screen and realised he was out.
    Pre-race favourites Bode Miller of the United States and Giorgio Rocca of Italy both failed to finish the first leg.
    Overall World Cup champion Miller, empty-handed after five events, straddled a gate after 18 seconds. Rocca, the World Cup leader in the discipline, lasted 34 seconds before falling.
    Frenchman Jean-Pierre Vidal, the 2002 champion, did not defend his title after breaking his arm in training on Friday.
    Kentaro Minagawa had hoped to become only the second Japanese to win an Olympic Alpine medal after setting the third fastest time in the first run.
    He was pushed off the podium by the Austrians, however, and finished in joint fourth place with Swede Andre Myhrer.
    Fans poured out of the slalom venue to the crackle of fireworks on the last evening of the winter olympics alpine events.
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