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Alberto Tomba hasn't done squat on the slopes in the last few years and yet, heading into Nagano, the 31-year-old Italian is still the closest thing skiing's got to an international superstar. Ask the man on the street to name one Alpine skier, chances are very good Tomba will be the one. This despite the fact that he's won only one races in the last 1 1/2 seasons. There are a whole host of clichés that can and have been attached to the guy -- larger than life, the Michael Jordan of skiing, etc. -- and while each is certainly true, they don't convey what it really is that makes Tomba unique: The man has got style. Tomba's career has been characterized by his incredible flair for the dramatic and his ability to punctuate everything he does with panache. A notorious first-run bust, he has made a habit of careening back into the picture with an audacious second run that, as often as not, thrusts him into first. Even on those occasions when he comes up short, he manages to enjoy the ride: At the 1992 Olympics in Albertville -- immodestly dubbed Albertoville by the skier -- Tomba finished the first run of the slalom in sixth, a mind-numbing 1.58 seconds behind the leader, Norway's Finn Christian Jagge. Between runs, the unflappable Tomba watched tapes of his first run -- and shaved. True to form, he unleashed the most spectacular run of the day on his second run, but Jagge managed to hold him off by .23 seconds. "Some journalists wrote afterwards of the disappointment," Tomba said later. "But for me, I skied for the gold. That is what I always try to do. Jagge was just better." Since Tomba came on the scene in 1986, very few have been better. He is a five-time Olympic medalist and the only man to repeat an Olympic win (He won the giant slalom gold in 1988 and '92). Only the incomparable Ingemar Stenmark of Sweden won more than the 48 races (Stenmark won 86 races) Tomba has won in his career. And in 1995, Tomba became the first skier since Stenmark, who won three World Cup titles in the 1970s, to win an overall World Cup while skiing only the gate events. Both skiers have an aversion to the speed events. Stenmark simply didn't like the downhill, and legend has it that Tomba's mother forbids him from skiing downhill. Furthermore, he hasn't skied the super giant slalom G since a 1989 crash left him with a broken collarbone. Wherever Tomba goes on the circuit, he is trailed by his fan club, a devoted group of about 500 that turns every mountainside into a trumpet-blowing, tambourine-tapping party. So despite the fact that he has yet to enjoy a podium finish in 1997-98, he is sure to create some noise in Nagano. And, as he has so often in the past, he promises not to disappoint his supporters. "I think that the fourth Olympics will be something unforgettable," he says. Consider the source: That seems like an understatement.
Each day during the Olympics, CNN/SI will bring you TNT's Athlete of the Day, a detailed look at the personalities that spice up the Games. Check back every day for a new athlete, and be sure to catch TNT's daily in-depth coverage of the Winter Olympics.
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