article by Nicola Pucci
In addition to the many merits acquired on the slopes around the world, Janica Kostelic is also credited with two Olympic records not really of little value: dealing with alpine skiing, she is not only the athlete who has collected the most five-hoop gold medals, 4, but she is also the only champion to have worn the most precious metal around her neck 3 times in a single edition of the Games. To be precise, the company was created in Salt Lake City in 2002and it is precisely those three memorable triumphs that we want to give you an account of today.
Premise. Janica, a Croatian from Zagreb born in 1982, three years younger than her brother Ivica who also juggles effectively between the posts (at the end of her career she will boast 26 successes in the World Cup, won in 2011, 4 Olympic silvers and 1 world gold in slalom in Saint Moritz in 2003), presented himself, just over 20 years old, at the American Winter Olympics with already an important skiing history. She has indeed won the overall World Cup ranking in 2001, has 12 partial victories to her credit (10 in slalom and 2 in combined) and has bagged, again in the year of grace 2001, the specialty cups in slalom and combined. Of course, as often happens when it comes to alpine skiing, Kostelic also paid a substantial tribute to the misfortune, if it is true that in December 1999, immediately after winning two slaloms, her favorite specialty, in Serre Chevalier and Sestriere, she tore four ligaments in her knee which forced her to miss the rest of the season, before returning as a dominator in the following one, but when the Games are upon us, the Croatian is ready to play a leading role, although in the World Cup she is still without victories in the current year.
In Salt Lake City Janica, already present four years earlier in Nagano when she was 25th in the downhill, 26th in the super-G, 24th in the giant, 8th in the combined and retired in the slalom, faces her second Olympic commitment, deserting the downhill which the February 12th opens the program (victory of the French Carole Montillet ahead of Isolde Kostener and the Austrian Renate Goetschl) and entering contention on February 14 in combined, a specialty which saw Goetschl prevail in the only two races held this season, in Saalbach just ahead of Kostelic and in Are beating the Swede Janette Hargin. We compete on Snowbasin but due to the strong wind the race program was changed, with the two heats of the special slalom being held before the downhill. AND if Janica is clearly the best among the narrow poles, 1’27″28, distancing the German Martina Ertl by 1″10 and the Swiss Marlies Oester by 2″06, Goetschl, fourth in the slalom, is the fastest downhill, however, unable to make up for the entire deficit accumulated in the morning, 2″22, overtaking Kostelic by only 73 cents, a delay largely sufficient for the Croatian to secure the gold medal. The first for her and for her country in the entire history of the Games.
In spite of a World Cup season, in fact, not in line with the previous one, having only achieved second place in the combined in Saalbach and third in the slalom in Berchtesgaden, Janica has set her sights on the Olympics objective and Salt Lake City looks really polished. As has the opportunity to confirm three days later, February 17, when with his beautiful bib number 16 for just a little, that is, the trifle of 5 cents, he does not choke in his throat the scream of joy of Daniela Ceccarelli, gold in supergiant on the brightest day of the her career which sees the Croatian climb to the second step of the podiumpreceding Karen Putzer from Bolzano and denying Italy a sensational double.
With a gold and a silver in the first two races, Kostelic can only look with optimism at the slalom that calls for the challenge on February 20th on the Know You Don’t Of Deer Valley authoritative suitors who answer to the name of the Swedish Anja Paersonauthor of a consecutive poker of victories in Sestriere, Lienz and twice Maribor this season, and the Frenchwoman Laure Pequegnot, triumphant in Copper Mountain, Saalbach and Are. And the three champions do not disappoint expectations, hovering among themselves a duel that sees the Croatian being the fastest in the first heat, 52″14, 18 hundredths better than the Transalpine and 43 hundredths better than the Scandinavian, provisionally fourth behind the Finnish Tanja Poutiainen, who was also 32 hundredths behind. Said of the other Finn Henna Raita, 13th, who with the best time of the second heat, 53″65, climbs up to 9th place, here when the fight for medals is concerned the two Germans Ertl and Mergmann enter in fifth and sixth position , the Swedish Ylva Nowen stops at the foot of the podium by just 9 cents and Poutiainen is betrayed by the pitfalls of the track, leaving any illusion of a podium in the snow. Paerson does not excel, marking the eighth time of the heat with an overall time of 1’47″09 which earned her at least the bronze, and then everyone’s eyes turned to Pequegnot and Kostelic, the last two to go down, with the French capable however, only 11 of the 18 cents of delay incurred in the first descent were shaved off. And so, for just 7 cents, Janica, not so impetuous in the serpentine between the palima solid enough, the golden encore fallswhich would already be more than enough to count her among the greats of Olympia.
But the work is not yet complete, and so, two days later, between the giant’s wide doors, Kostelic designed an authentic masterpiece. Bib number 19, which means that in the merit rankings she is even outside the top 15, while already the Austrian Alexandra Meissnitzer, 1’16″49, the Spanish Maria José Rienda, 1’16″73, the usual Paerson, 1 ’16″87, the other Habsburg Michaela Dorfmeister, 1’16″89, and the Swiss Sonja Nef, 1’16″94, are planning what to do to snatch a medal by occupying the first five provisional positions in the ranking, here it is Janica descends into the valley perfectly combining power and elegance, strength and effectiveness, to the point of achieving a much better time, 1’16″00, letting it be understood that he has every intention of landing a fantastic golden hat trick. Which promptly happens in the second heat when, with Meissnitzer and Rienda not confirming their results, slipping to fourth and sixth place in the final, with Dorfmeister equaling her compatriot in the disappointment of the wooden medal, and with Person and Nef separated by 34 cents on the two steps lower than the podium, Kostelic arouses even more sensation, finally triumphing with an advantage of 1″32 over the Swede and 1″66 on the Swiss.
Janica Kostelic’s gold hat-trick at the Olympics is servedthe record as well and then, at this point, all that remains is wait for someone who can do better. Really not easy…
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2023-10-05 06:25:00
#JANICA #KOSTELICS #GOLDEN #TRIOS #SALT #LAKE #CITY #OLYMPICS #SportHistoria
