TRIPLE PLAY: For years Austria’s Stephan Eberharter skied in the shadow of the great Hermann Maier. Not anymore. The 32-year-old veteran was the star of the alpine events. Though he could manage only a bronze in the downhill, where he was the favorite, Eberharter rallied to take a silver in the super G and a gold in the giant slalom.
ELBOWED OUT: South Korea’s vaunted short-track speed skaters won four medals, but lost a gold in the men’s 1,500-meter race when Kim Dong-Sung was disqualified for interfering with U.S. skater Apolo Ohno.
MAKING HISTORY: America’s No.2 bobsled team, Jill Bakken and Vonetta Flowers, defied expectations and took the gold. Even more notable, Flowers became the first African-American woman to win a Winter Olympics gold medal. Not bad for an Alabama native who doesn’t like the cold.
NEW HEIGHTS: Ales Valenta of the Czech Republic soared to victory in the men’s aerial freestyle event. Valenta, flying nearly 60 feet high, seemed to defy the limits of gravity and the human body–completing five full twists, along with three nearly simultaneous backflips, to win the gold. He beat out the hometown favorite Joe Pack, who took silver, and defending gold medalist Eric Bergoust, who crash-landed.
