The first thing he did when he arrived, when his helicopter settled into the snow in Val d'Isere after a short flight from the Italian Alps to the French Alps, was to say this: "Lately I have been toasting defeat rather than wins to avoid too much celebration."
Say this for Alberto Tomba, he knows how to make an entrance. No sooner did he get his bearings in Val d'Isere, after two weeks of what he called "intensive training" in Italy, than he won the Olympic giant slalom Tuesday afternoon. Marc Girardelli, the four-time World Cup champion, was at the bottom of the hill with the time to beat and Tomba beat it, still gaining when he hit the bottom.He's three-for-three in Olympic races. Two golds in Calgary in 1988 when he was practically an unknown and celebrated his victories by asking Katarina Witt, the East German figure skating champion, for a date (she turned him down). And now one-for-one in, as he says they'll call it once he's come and gone, "Albertoville."
Tomba will ski one more race in these Olympic Games - Friday at Les Menuires in the slalom, an event he says, "I'm better at than giant slalom."
By winning Tuesday's giant slalom he already made Olympic history. No alpine gold medalist had ever returned four years later and done it again in the same event. Not until Tomba did it in Val d'Isere.
"An unforgettable feat," he termed his accomplishment. One that could become even more unforgettable if he doubles Friday in the slalom.
To that end he said that between now and Friday there would be no chasing down Katarina Witt, who is in Albertoville doing television commentary, to give her a second chance. He said there would be little time for any of the partying that has given him his reputation and his nickname, La Bomba."This time is different than Calgary," he said. "If you want to compare, Calgary was much easier. I was young and unknown. I didn't have the responsibility then that I have now."
He said he has become less of a man since Calgary. He has lost 10 pounds. He said he stays away from sweets and fats more than he used to, although not from pasta. He said he gets to bed earlier.
"I used to have a wild time with three women until 5 a.m.," he said. "In the Olympics, I will live it up with five women until 3 a.m."
He has good timing. He keeps a straight face when he talks. He knows how to deliver a line.
He said he avoided coming to the Olympics early because his events, the giant slalom and slalom, weren't scheduled until late in the Games; and besides, he has always operated on his own clock. His coach says he can't remember the last time Tomba started training before 10 a.m.
He was home in Italy, training the late mornings away in Sestriere, as the Albertville Games got off to their topsy-turvy start last week. He watched on television as favorite after favorite failed in his specialty.
First, he watched Franz Heinzer of Switzerland, the World Cup leader in the downhill, failing to medal in his specialty. Then, in the combined and Super G, he watched Switzerland's Paul Accola, top-ranked in both events, fail to medal in either one. (After watching a frustrated Accola ski backward across the finish line of the combined and salute the jeering French crowd with an obscene gesture, he said, "I don't think I would have done that").
Did it unnerve him watching it? Did he come to Albertoville fearing the uprising of the underdogs?
Not that anyone noticed.
The Olympics would be business as usual. Along with the No. 1 world rankings he holds in both the slalom and giant slalom, he brought along his helicopter, his helicopter pilot, his coach, his ski technician, and his personal sports psychologist.
"I don't know if he's a real sports psychologist, if he has a degree in it or not," said Tomba. "But he's more of a friend than a psychologist anyway. We went to dinner Monday night, for instance, and he told me `Sure, this is the Olympics, but it's just like any other race.' That helped."
He said Tuesday's win will make him more "relaxed" for Friday's race, that winning Tuesday's gold medal, his third in the Olympic history, took a lot of the pressure off. He'll be able to ski more free on Friday when another win will mean more history.
And if he loses, he'll toast that too.