MERIBEL, France (CP)
- About a year and a half ago, skier Kerrin Lee-Gartner
awoke from a strange dream. "It was in French and they
were saying `medaille d'or' and saying my name," Lee-Gartner
recalled Saturday after becoming the first Canadian to win
a Winter Olympics downhill gold medal.
"I don't even speak French." In
any language, Lee-Gartner is an Olympic champion, bringing
Canada its first gold medal of these Games in the French
Alps.
"The approach I took today was all
or nothing," said the freckled 25-year-old from Calgary
who has had both knees surgically reconstructed during
a World Cup career that never saw her finish higher than
third.
"I didn't want to ski well and come
fifth. I wanted to ski awesome and come first."
The 12th skier out of the gate, her time
of one minute 52.55 seconds was .12 seconds quicker than
Germany's Katja Seizinger - fastest at that point.
Lee-Gartner stood in the finish line as
the rest of the field - 29 completed the run - took aim
at her time.
"I knew it would hold," said her
coach, Don Lyon. "There were a few girls left I knew
could bump her but I knew she was in there for a medal."
Hilary Lindh of Juneau, Alaska, who has
never finished better than eighth in a World Cup downhill
race, came the closest, earning the silver medal in 1:52.61.
Austria's Veronika Wallinger took the bronze
in 1:52.64.
A biting, wet snow fell as the race started
and fog hung over the upper reaches of the peaks. The
snow stopped and the sun broke through moments before
Lee-Gartner attacked the demanding Iron Rock course, longest
ever for a women's downhill.
She kept with the pace-setting Seizinger
on the high-speed opening turns and over two big bumps
that sent skiers airborne. She sizzled on the bottom,
executing textbook turns.
"The run was a little wild in sections.
My thoughts the whole way down were just let it go, go
as fast as I can. Sometimes you end up making mistakes
that way, but you also end up being fast."
She thrust her arms in the air when she
saw her time posted and was mobbed by coaches and teammates.
The buzz of anticipation among Canadian
supporters in the crowd of 20,000 turned into a roar as
her time turned golden. Canadian flags waved and people
stood on fences screaming.
The medal restored some pride to a Canadian
Olympic team stung by dashed hopes and pierced by criticism.
"It's a very important moment because
many of our results have been disappointing," said
Canada's chef de mission, Walter Sieber.
Said Lee-Gartner, who smiled through tears
from atop the medal podium as O Canada was played and
the Maple Leaf was raised: "It feels great to bring
the gold back to Canada."
