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Italy's Belmondo wins eighth career Olympic medal
Associated Press
MIDWAY, Utah — A pair of silver goggles concealed Stefania Belmondo's tears twice Saturday.
The Italian cried during and after the women's 15-kilometer freestyle cross-country race.
And she will always remember both.
Belmondo won the first gold medal of the Winter Olympics, taking the women's 15-kilometer race in 39 minutes, 54.4 seconds. Larissa Lazutina of Russia took the silver in 39:56.2 and Katerina Neumannova of the Czech Republic won the bronze in 40:01.3.
"I am very, very happy," said Belmondo, who won her second gold medal in what might be her last Olympics. "It's incredible. It's such a wonderful feeling."
Americans Nina Kemppel, Barbara Jones and Kristina Joder were 30th, 44th and 54th, respectively. Kemppel finished nearly three minutes behind Belmondo, whose race was nearly as emotional as her victory.
It began at the 10.5-kilometer mark. Racing with the leaders, she broke a ski pole, faded from the front and then lost her composure.
"At that point, I thought the race was over," said Belmondo, who will turn 33 on Tuesday. "I cried. I screamed like never before."
She started sobbing but never stop skiing.
She pushed with one pole for the next 700 meters, losing several spots and about seven seconds to the leaders.
But just when she was about to lose all hope, a team trainer appeared along the course and gave her another pole.
With the leaders in sight, she knew she was still in the race.
"I gave it all I had," said Belmondo, a 5-foot-3, 101-pound skier who favors the hilly Soldier Hollow Course.
She regained her composure, increased her confidence with every pass and caught up to the leaders — setting up a frantic finish.
Lazutina and Belmondo broke away from the lead pack during a steep climb about 1.5 kilometers from the finish.
Lazutina charged ahead and entered the home stretch in first place, but Belmondo broke inside and sprinted past her in the final 100 meters.
"I guess I did everything I could do," Lazutina said.
As Belmondo crossed the finish line, she screamed loudly, kissed her right hand twice and pointed to the sky.
She was crying again.
It was a perfect start to what might be her final Olympics. She is considering calling it quits after these games.
"I don't know, frankly, if this is my last Olympics," she said. "I haven't made up my mind yet."
If she does retire, Salt Lake City might be an appropriate spot. It's the site where she claimed her first World Cup victory in 1989, winning a 15-kilometer freestyle event as a junior.
It was a sign of things to come.
Although she has never won an overall World Cup title, Belmondo has finished in the top 10 in the standings 11 straight times. She has been even better in Olympic competition.
Skiing in her fifth Winter Games, she has won eight medals.
In Albertville in 1992, she won three Olympic medals — taking home gold in the 30-kilometer freestyle, silver in the pursuit and bronze in the 5-kilometer relay. In doing so, she became the first Italian woman to win an Olympic cross-country skiing medal.
She won two more medals in 1994 in Lillehammer. She won a silver in the 30-kilometer freestyle and anchored Italy to bronze in the 5-kilometer relay for the third consecutive games.
"Gold is a wonderful feeling," Belmondo said. "It's been a heck of a long time."
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February 9, 2002
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