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Faster, Higher, Stronger

Spanish Translation

By Nelida Gonzalez Cutler

Waving tricolor flags, Italian fans serenaded Enrico Fabris with chants of "En-ri-co! En-ri-co!" The 24-year-old speedskating policeman won two gold medals and one bronze. He also captured the heart of his country. Fabris earned his first gold in the new team-pursuit race. Then he outskated U.S. speedsters Shani Davis and Chad Hedrick to nab a gold in the 1,500-meter. After the race, Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi called Fabris. "He told me that I am writing the history of the sport and that the best is still to come," Fabris said.

Courageous athletes, unexpected heroes, and come-from-behind victories are the hallmarks of the Olympics. The Winter Games in Turin, Italy, were no exception.

Fired Up On the Ice
Japan's Shizuka Arakawa skated a flawless long program to win the women's figure-skating gold. It was Japan's first medal in Turin and its second Olympic figure-skating medal ever.

Going into the free-skate program on Thursday, American Sasha Cohen led the women skaters by a tiny margin. But Cohen could not hold on to first place. She fell twice and finished with a silver. Russia's Irina Slutskaya fell once and took bronze.

Arakawa's victory ended Russia's hope for sweeping the figure-skating events. Russians won gold in men's, pairs and ice dancing.

A Dose of Controversy
It wouldn't be the Olympics without controversy. Serious charges of cheating hit Austria's cross-country ski team. After Italian police raided the living quarters of Austrian athletes, Austria's ski federation admitted that two athletes "may have used il-legal methods." But on Friday, the Interna-tional Olympic Com-mittee said blood tests on 10 Austrian athletes showed no evidence of wrongdoing.

A different type of controversy loomed over U.S. speedskaters Davis and Hedrick. Davis broke barriers by becoming the first black athlete to win an individual gold medal in Winter Olympics history. He posted a time of 1:08.89 to win the 1,000-meter race. After the race, Hedrick did not congratulate him. Hedrick was unhappy that Davis had refused to participate in the team-pursuit race. Davis had wanted to focus on his individual events. Hedrick believed that this had cost the U.S. a medal. The teammates finally shook hands on the podium at the medals ceremony.

Ruling the Slopes
American Alpine racer Bode Miller caused a blizzard of pre-Olympics publicity, but he failed to win a medal in his first four races. The U.S. ski team had labeled itself "Best in the World," but they did not live up to their slogan. One bright spot: Ted Ligety's surprise win in the combined slalom-downhill event. "I can't believe it," he said, "because I'm not very good in downhill."

American snowboarders ruled. Hannah Teter (see page 8), Seth Wescott and Shaun White nabbed gold in their events. White, known as the Flying Tomato because of his long red hair, wowed spectators with consecutive 1080s--three complete rotations in the air. Awesome!

More than 2,500 athletes competed in the 2006 Winter Games. Only 84 gold medals were awarded. In 1908, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympics, said, "The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to participate." That ideal remains true to this day, whether you are a cheering fan in the cheap seats or Italy's new hero, Enrico Fabris.

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