All Aamodt

Norwegian cherishes gold, status in alpine skiing

SNOWBASIN, Utah (AP) -- Quiet, unassuming, and always in the hunt. For the past decade, Kjetil Andre Aamodt has been one of the best ski racers in the world.

Not just in one event, but in all of them.

The 30-year-old Norwegian's victory in the men's combined event on Wednesday at the Salt Lake City Olympics was his sixth Olympic medal, more than any other Alpine skier, man or woman.

Alberto Tomba only managed five, so did Katja Seizinger and Vreni Schneider.

Aamodt has two golds -- super giant slalom in Albertville in 1992 and the combined he won on Wednesday, two silvers -- the downhill and combined in Lillehammer in 1994, and a bronze -- the Super-G in Lillehammer.

In all, he has 16 world championship and Olympic medals, also more than any other skier.

"The next medal is always the nicest one," he said. "I have a wonderful feeling inside. I've won 15 medals before, but I really wanted this medal today. It is only my second gold medal in the Olympics. It's been 10 years since I won the Super G in '92, so this is very special to me."

Of all the best skiers on the World Cup circuit, only Aamodt and countryman Lasse Kjus ski in all four disciplines. The rest are specialists, either best in the speed events -- downhill and super giant slalom, or the technical events -- giant slalom and slalom.

Kjus won the silver medal in the men's downhill on Sunday and was second, behind Aamodt, through the downhill and first slalom run of the combined, before faltering and finishing fifth. Kjus has 14 world championship and Olympic medals, second only to Aamodt.

Asked why no one else does all the disciplines, Kjus just smiled and said, "It's hard."

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Aamodt said he and Kjus started skiing all events and never honed in on any one or two of them.

"It's just been that way since we started skiing World Cup when we were 18 or 19," Aamodt said. "It's difficult to say why. But I love skiing and I always try to push myself. I think if you love skiing and you love competition and you still want to push yourself to win more, then you can go a long way for a long time."

Aamodt is the three-time defending world champion in the combined, and he won both World Cup combined events this winter. He knew he should win the Olympic combined, and he knew American Bode Miller probably was his biggest challenger.

Aamodt had a comfortable 2.44-second lead over Miller going into the second slalom run, but with his breathtaking performance in that run, Miller narrowed the gap to 0.28 seconds.

"I saw that it was a quite small margin at the end," Aamodt said with a smile, "but the most important thing for me was that it was big enough."

Miller's silver was his first Olympic medal. The 24-year-old American appreciates the career Aamodt has had.

"If you're talking about ski racing and medals, you'd have to say he's the best athlete in the world," Miller said. "I think ski racing is one of the hardest sports there is to be good at, and be good at for a long time. There are only a few guys in the history of the sport who can stay on top for that long."

Aamodt, who was born in Oslo but lives in Monaco along the French Riviera, is far from ready to call it quits. He wants to race through the 2006 Olympics in Turin, Italy.

"It's a new day tomorrow," he said. "Ski racing and all competitions become history very fast, and then you have a chance for new goals."

 

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