Alberto Tomba backed up four years of boastful talk in two sensational minutes.
Dan Jansen extended four years of frustration with an endless last lap.Different Olympics, same all-or-nothing results today for the heroic and tragic figures of the 1988 Winter Games.
Seizing the Olympic moment where other favorites had fumbled, Tomba La Bomba powered to victory in the men's giant slalom to become the first repeat Olympic champion of an Alpine ski race.
That made it three career gold medals in three Olympic races for the sport's reigning superstar and capped Italy's greatest day ever on the slopes.
"Now you can call these the Tombaville Games," pronounced Tomba, who had joked last week that Albertville would have to be renamed Albertoville.
Jansen, whose world records were overshadowed by two falls in Calgary amidst family tragedy, failed to overcome his Olympic jinx in his last chance for a medal. Again a fall was involved - this time not his.
The American speedskater, the early leader after posting the fastest times in the first two splits, faded badly on the last lap of the 1,000 meters after Patrick Kelly of Canada fell. He hesitated badly entering the final turn and finished with only the 15th-fastest time of the first 16 skaters.
Four years ago today, he fell at a nearly identical point of the 1,000-meter race while on a medal pace.
Jansen finished a disappointing fourth last week in his world-record specialty, the 500 meters, but was a medals contender today. So was Eric Flaim, the 1988 silver medalist in the 1,500, but he, too, finished well back.
The latest Tomba triumph came barely two hours after his training partner, Deborah Compagnoni, snatched the gold from the favorites in the women's super-G.
Alberto would not be upstaged.
Luxembourg's Marc Girardelli, a four-time World Cup circuit champion, made a strong bid for his long-sought first gold medal by flashing down the Val d'Isere course into first place on his second and final run.
But Tomba, skiing last among the top-seeded skiers after posting the fastest time in the morning run, overcame an early slip to do it again in the afternoon. He won by .32 seconds in a combined 2:06.98, dipping to both knees and raising his hands in the air to the chants and cheers of his fans.
"Congratulations, Alberto. Thanks very much, me," said the stubble-bearded champion, who as a brash 21-year-old took Calgary by storm in 1988.
Girardelli won his second silver in these Games and Norway's Kjetil Andre Aamodt took a bronze to go with his surprise gold from the super-G.
Italy now has won a record three skiing golds and can make it four in Saturday's slalom. Josef Polig led that country's 1-2 finish last week in the Alpine combined.
Compagnoni temporarily stole the spotlight from Tomba by cruising to a surprisingly wide victory over French favorite Carole Merle in the women's super-G.
Merle, the career leader with nine World Cup victories in the event, appeared to have won when no one in the group of top 15 seeds could match her time of 1 minute, 22.63 seconds on a frosty day on the "Roc de Fer" course.
But Compagnoni, who won the last super-G before the Olympics, skied next and crossed the finish line a whopping 1.43 seconds faster, flashing a huge smile when her time was posted.
Eva Twardokens of Santa Cruz, Calif., was the top American in eighth, exactly one second behind Seizinger.
Compagnoni became the fifth long-shot winner of an Alpine race at the Albertville Games.
The unbeaten U.S. hockey team had less than 24 hours to recover from an important but brutally physical tie against Sweden before opening medals-round play tonight against France.
Monday night's game was supposed to be European finesse against American brawn, but the bloody matchup turned out to be more like Ali vs. Frazier.
"This isn't war, guys, this isn't war," Swedish assistant coach Curt Lundmark told reporters after the 3-3 tie at the Meribel arena. "But almost."
Love conquered all on another rink 25 miles away - or was it a million? - in Albertville, where a Russian couple skating sensuously to Bach beat French stars Isabelle and Paul Duchesnay for the Olympic ice dancing title.
Marina Klimova and Sergei Ponomarenko, competing for the Unified Team, won the free skate with a steamy program cleverly designed to score artistic points where a brother-sister duo, even the world champions, cannot.
The Norwegians today picked up a seventh gold, tying their all-time best, by easily winning the 40-kilometer men's cross-country ski relay. Vegard "the Viking" Ulvang became the leading male medal-winner at the Albertville Games with three golds and one silver, and teammate Bjorn Dahlie won a second gold and third medal.
Japan today won its first Winter Olympic gold in 20 years. The Japanese skied to an easy victory in the team Nordic combined ahead of Norway and Austria.
Germany remained atop the medals table with 22, including eight golds. Next were the Unified Team and Austria with 17, and Norway with 16, one short of its all-time high. Italy moved ahead of France with 10, and the Americans fell into eighth place behind Finland with six.
The U.S. hockey team (4-0-1) blew a 3-0 lead in the final 14 minutes, but still earned a top seed and the right to play France (2-3) in the quarterfinals. Goalie Ray LeBlanc was super again despite the late letdown.
One crunching hit less than three minutes into the game demonstrated graphically that there was no love lost between the two foes.
The Swedes had pointed to the game after a 3-2 pre-Games loss in Chamonix in which they complained of U.S. bullying tactics. When a flying check by former NHL player Mats Naslund against the glass KO'd American defenseman Greg Brown for several minutes, it literally smacked of revenge.
U.S. coach Dave Peterson called it a dirty shot and refused to shake hands with Swedish coach Conny Evensson afterward.