ITALY: Ted Ligety takes gold for U.S. in Olympic Alpine combined.

Record ID: 331953

  • Title: ITALY: Ted Ligety takes gold for U.S. in Olympic Alpine combined.
  • Date: 14th February 2006
  • Summary: SESTRIERE, ITALY (FEBRUARY 14, 2006) (REUTERS) (NIGHT SCENES) GOLD MEDAL WINNER, ALPINE SKIER TED LIGETY ARRIVING AT U.S. HOUSE LIGETY TALKING TO JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (English) GOLD MEDAL WINNER, ALPINE SKIER TED LIGETY, SAYING: "I was just trying to stay relaxed. I was just joking with all the guys at the start, having a little fun, you know, not worrying about the result too much. I just wanted to hammer down a good run again and stay ahead of it, for sure." LIGETY SPEAKING TO JOURNALIST (SOUNDBITE) (English) GOLD MEDAL WINNER, ALPINE SKIER TED LIGETY, SAYING: "I'm ecstatic for sure. There's no better feeling in the world than this." LIGETY SPEAKING TO JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (English) GOLD MEDAL WINNER, ALPINE SKIER TED LIGETY, SAYING: "Yeah, I mean it's definitely a bummer that Bode went out, for sure. He's such a strong competitor and such a strong skier in all the disciplines that we definitely expected him to be there today and it was kind of a bad luck situation for him straddling the gates, so it's really too bad for him, but I'm sure he'll be back in other events." LIGETY SPEAKING TO JOURNALISTS LIGETY ENTERING U.S. HOUSE AND BEING CONGRATULATED
  • Embargoed: 1st March 2006 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Italy
  • Country: Italy
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVA204SQBJWC8EDX79GZ85HHB5OW
  • Story Text: Unheralded American Ted Ligety won Olympic gold in the Alpine skiing combined event on Tuesday (February 14) after leader Benjamin Raich of Austria skied out of the slalom second leg.
    "I was just trying to stay relaxed. I was just joking with all the guys at the start, having a little fun, you know, not worrying about the result too much. I just wanted to hammer down a good run again and stay ahead of it, for sure," Ligety said of his third run.
    "I'm ecstatic for sure. There's no better feeling in the world than this," he added.
    Ligety had been expected to play second fiddle to his better known team mate Bode Miller but the overall World Cup champion, who led after the downhill leg, straddled a gate pole in the first slalom run and was disqualified.
    "It's definitely a bummer that Bode went out, for sure. He's such a strong competitor and such a strong skier in all the disciplines that we definitely expected him to be there today and it was kind of a bad luck situation for him straddling the gates, so it's really too bad for him, but I'm sure he'll be back in other events," Ligety, who was only 32nd after the downhill leg, said of Miller's disqualification.
    Croatian Ivica Kostelic, a former world slalom champion who has battled injuries and had won nothing in more than two years, took silver with Austrian Rainer Schoenfelder winning the bronze.
    Raich, world combined champion and overall World Cup leader, had a lead of 0.40 seconds going into the final slalom leg but straddled a gate halfway down the second run and went out.
    U.S. team members, waiting with Ligety at the finish line of the Giovanni Agnelli course, celebrated wildly as they realised their man had won.
    Miller, combined silver medallist at the last Olympics, had been a favourite for the gold in Turin while the 21-year-old Ligety, skiing in his first Games and without a single World Cup win, remained in the shadows.
    Ligety, who has had three World Cup podium places in slalom this season, produced the fastest time of the first slalom leg to push him up to third overall, behind Kostelic and Raich, going into the decisive leg.
    Kostelic, the older brother of Janica who is defending three Alpine skiing gold medals in Turin, had knee surgery two years ago and has not won a race since.
    Outgoing champion Kjetil Andre Aamodt of Norway decided not to defend his title after injuring his knee in Sunday's downhill when he finished fourth.
    Miller came to Turin as a favourite in all five events but finished fifth in Sunday's downhill. His next opportunity will be the super-G, in which he is world champion, on Saturday.
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