Athlete profile: Silvio Fauner

Posted: Tue February 3, 1998 at 5:00 PM ET

Athlete notes

In Lillehammer Olympics lore, Fauner will be forever remembered for one of the Games'most dramatic moments...with 300 meters to go in the men's 4x10 km relay, Fauner battled head-to-head, glide-for-glide with Norwegian Bjorn Daehlie...few of the 100,000 Norwegians in attendance thought that Fauner would be able to hold off the legendary Daehlie...but Fauner held on in the last few meters to win the gold for his team by four tenths of a second and break the hearts of many Norwegian fans who nonetheless cheered boisterously as they applauded the efforts of both skiers...Fauner downplays the race and does not consider it his biggest cross-country triumph -- that belongs to his 50 km freestyle win at the 1995 World Championships in Thunder Bay, Canada...Fauner even stresses the fact that Daehlie had a better time on the last leg and Italy only won because his Italian teammates provided him with a lead -- though that lead amounted to about one second..."My tactics were to stay with Daehlie to the very end," said Fauner after that gigantic triumph. "I didn't do, nor will I do, any sprint training. I think it's just something I know how to do. I had quite some difficulties during the first five kilometers. Daehlie had a better glide and skied faster than I did"...in Lillehammer, Fauner also collected an individual bronze in the 15 km Pursuit...since 1994, Fauner has carried the torch for Italy as the top skier in a nation which takes its cross-country very seriously...in 1995 he was in outstanding form at the World Championships, placing in the top five in all four individual events...when he won the 50 km freestyle he fulfilled a childhood dream he had been thinking about since his idol from across the San Pietro di Cadore valley, Maurilio De Zolt, won the 50 km at the 1987 World Championships... "Maurilio had an influence over not just us boys but the whole population," said Fauner before the 1994 Olympics. "He was the hero of the valley when he won the 50 km at the Worlds in Oberstdorf. The church bells rang all day. I hope one day the church bells will ring for me"...and they did...Fauner's form dipped a little in the years following Thunder Bay and last year in Trondheim, Norway, the pressure seemed to affect Fauner somewhat..."A lot of things happened at once, for me," says Fauner about last February. "I had won several World Cups in December and January and people were gunning for me. I peaked too early. Then my son was born 10 days before the Events and I flew home to be with my wife and family"...Fauner was very ineffective at the Worlds and some of his coaches and teammates say the pressure got to him...but the 1997-98 season seems to be taking shape in a different manner from past years...Fauner broke his right shoulder in a mountain biking accident in October and all of a sudden he was no longer Italy's top guy..."It's going fine," says Fauner. "I recovered well. I was hoping my summer training would carry me through and I was fully ready for the first World Cup events"...his coaches think the injury has been a blessing in disguise, taking some of the pressure off of Fauner..."He feels pressure from the media because he is our number one, but the last two years he finished behind [Fulvio] Valbusa in World Cup," explains Italian head cross-country coach Alessandro Vanoi (ahl-eh-SAHN-droh VAH-noy) "Now with the accident, nobody will care about the World Cup so he can concentrate on the Olympics"...the two skiers hope to carry the Italians to relay gold again in Nagano...Vanoi is confident the Italian can beat out the always-strong Norwegians and Finns for the gold with Valbusa, Fauner and up-and-comer Pietro Piller Coller as stalwarts..."They (Valbusa and Fauner) are really very different," says Vanoi of his two superstars. "Fauner was born strong. He has the body for competing and he has not had to work so hard. Valbusa has had to work much harder. But he has the mentality for fighting more than Silvio. Valbusa is more competitive but Silvio has more natural talent"...Fauner is a little more skeptical than his coach, "Relay is four people and anything can happen," says Silvio. "Every one has to be in top form"...when Fauner first started with the Italian national team, he was unsure of his ability...but older brother, Aldo, who was also on the team, facilitated Silvio's transition to the senior level...sadly, Aldo, three years older than Silvio, was diagnosed with an irregular heartbeat in 1991 and denied medical clearance to race in Albertville...although able to live a normal life, Aldo retired from cross-country skiing three years ago and has stayed on as Silvio's ski technician, traveling with him to every Events...in his free time, Silvio spends time with his family and two children, Lugin (4) and Mattheo (12 months)...his father is a retired construction worker and he also has two sisters...Fauner is known for his sleeping and still considers it one of his hobbies...Fauner speaks some German but only a little English...