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© St. Petersburg Times, published February 19, 2002
PARK CITY, Utah -- Alisa Camplin delivered another Aussie surprise, winning the gold medal in women's aerials Monday to give her country two golds in the span of three days.
Canadian teammates Veronica Brenner and Deidra Dionne took silver and bronze.
Australia had never won a gold medal in the Winter Games until heavy underdog Steven Bradbury took advantage of a big wreck in the 1,000-meter speed-skating final Saturday to win the race.
"That helped me breath easy," Camplin said. "It wasn't like the weight of the whole country was on my shoulders."
Camplin's victory wasn't that big a shock, but it was still a mighty big surprise. The 27-year-old started skiing when she was 19. She was ranked fifth in the World Cup standings last year and had finished no higher than seventh in two World Championships.
The Aussies came into the games thinking they might get their first gold -- not from Camplin or Bradbury, but from aerialist Jacqui Cooper.
Cooper injured her knee in practice last week and was home in Melbourne watching Camplin on television before going in for surgery later in the day.
With Camplin's win, Australia suddenly finds itself with one more gold medal than traditional Winter Games powerhouse Austria, and the same number as Canada.
"That's awesome," Camplin said. "We're a summer country, a sunny country. But this is amazing. It will set a great standard for Australian Olympians. Hopefully, there are some people in Australia that actually see now that winter sports are something that they can pursue."
Evelyne Leu, the Swiss skier who set a world record in qualifying, finished 11th, unable to land either of the triple-flip jumps she tried.
SKI JUMPING: Martin Schmitt jumped as far as he could, and while waiting to see if it was far enough, one thought raced through the German's mind.
"Please, please, please, please," he said. "Let me win."
He won -- by about the length of the gold-medal ribbon that will be draped around his neck.
Schmitt soared 405 feet on his final, nerve-racking jump to give Germany a gold medal by one-tenth of a point over Finland in team ski jumping at Park City.
The Germans, who won the silver medal four years ago in Nagano, finished with 974.1 points, edging Finland (974.0) in the closest team jumping competition in Olympic history.
"I can't imagine how the Finns feel," Schmitt said.
Slovenia, appearing in its third Olympics as an independent nation, had 946.3 points and won the bronze for its first medal of the Salt Lake City Games.
The young American team, hoping to use its experience in Salt Lake City as a springboard toward a medal in 2006, finished 11th. The United States hasn't won a jumping medal since 1924.
BIATHLON: With impeccable shooting over the final half of the race, Germany cruised to its second straight gold medal in the women's 30-kilometer relay.
Katrin Apel, Uschi Disl, Andrea Henkel and Kati Wilhelm covered the Soldier Hollow course at Midway in 1 hour, 27 minutes, 55 seconds. Norway won the silver, finishing 30.6 seconds back. Russia took the bronze, 1 minute, 24.7 seconds behind.
The U.S. women ended a disappointing Games by finishing last among the 15-team field.
After bringing back two of the four biathletes from the winning 1998 team, the Germans were the heavy favorite to capture this event.
WOMEN'S CURLING: The Americans clinched a spot in the semifinals with an 11-2 win over Norway.
The U.S. team ended the round-robin portion with a 6-3 record, winning its last four games.
"This was our first expectation, reaching the final four. Now we just have two games to win," team skip Kari Erickson said.
The Americans face Switzerland in Wednesday's semifinals. The Swiss came in second after two wins Monday to finish at 7-2. They handed Canada (8-1) its first loss of the tournament with a 7-6 decision, then topped Germany 10-4.
Germany ended at 5-4 along with Britain and Sweden, which took a 9-6 victory over Russia (1-8).
There will be a playoff today to determine Canada's opponent in the semifinals. Britain faces Sweden and the winner goes against Germany, which received a bye.
In another night match, Japan (2-7) edged Denmark (2-7) 6-5.
The Americans led 6-1 after four ends, or innings.
Erickson said the big lead was nice after three earlier games came down to the final shot.
MEN'S CURLING: Britain beat the United States 7-6 in a match of teams already eliminated from the medal round. Canada defeated Denmark 8-3 to clinch the top spot in the round robin, while Norway handed Sweden its first loss 9-8. Switzerland beat Germany 10-4.
SHORT-TRACK SKATING: Apolo Anton Ohno skated Monday for the first time since cutting his left leg in a spectacular short-track crash that probably cost him a gold medal.
Ohno was the last American to take the ice for the 1-hour, 15-minute workout, clambering over the boards in a red helmet. He skated slowly at first, staying inside the black lane markers while his teammates zipped around.
Ohno wore a bandage under his skin suit to cover six stitches in his thigh. "He looked great," U.S. coach Susan Ellis said. "He's in good spirits."
Ohno was cut by his own skate when four of five skaters collided and fell on the last lap of the 1,000 meters Saturday. He staggered across the line to claim the silver.
Ohno's next race is the 1,500 meters Wednesday. He'll need to advance through two rounds to reach the final -- one of three remaining events where he is favored to win a medal.
ALPINE SKIING: The Canadian Ski Association said it has terminated its men's team for the remainder of the year after disappointing performances over the past two seasons and in the Olympics.
The association said the team, made up of Ed Podivinsky, Darin McBeath and David Anderson, will skip the final World Cup event in Norway primarily due to the logistics and costs involved in traveling to the event.
In addition, Canadian coaches Peter and Rob Bosinger, Mike Syrovatka and Paul Lavoie won't have their contracts renewed.