TORINO, Italy — I think it was Napoleon, while in exile on the island of Elba, which is not far from here, who first brought up the subject of how hard it is to stay on top once you get there.

He'd have a whole lot of U.S. Olympians here in Europe who would agree with him.

With the days running down to a non-precious few at the 2006 Torino Olympics, one thing is certain: It's not Salt Lake City all over again.

On a U.S. team loaded with the stars of the Salt Lake 2002 Olympics, few have shined in either the Italian Alps or the Torino lowlands.

Two weeks ago when they marched in the opening ceremonies, they were people of promise; now they're more like aging movie stars.

The wheels didn't just fall off; so did the transmission and front and rear axles.

In all, 21 Americans who won individual medals in Salt Lake qualified for the Torino Games. Only three of them have won medals this go-around — snowboarder Danny Kass, who duplicated his silver medal in halfpipe; short-track speedskater Apolo Ohno, with a bronze compared to the gold and silver he won in 2002 (he has one race to go); and long-track speedskater Joey Cheek, the only one to improve by winning a gold and silver here after a bronze four years ago.

The other 18? Shut out. Blanked. A shadow of their former selves.

If they're not over the hill, they're taking considerably longer getting down it.

Kind of makes you feel old, doesn't it?

Then again, age can't get all the blame. Many of these people are still in their 20s. Mogul racers Travis Mayer and Shannon Bahrke, who went from silver-silver in Salt Lake City to seventh-10th here, are 25 and 23; Ohno is 23; halfpipe snowboarder Kelly Clark, gold in Salt Lake City, fourth here, is 22. Bode Miller is all of 28; Jennifer Rodriguez is 29. A wrinkle to these people is still a rumor.

But for whatever reason, their encore Games reached up and slapped them.

The magic was just gone. Jennifer Rodriguez skated like she had anvils for skates. Derek Parra barely finished. Bobsledder Vonetta Flowers, who in Salt Lake City became the first African-American to win a gold medal, placed sixth here. Aerialist Joe Pack didn't make it past qualifying. Lugers Brian Martin and Mark Grimmette finished their run with the sled on top of them.

Michelle Kwan went home injured before the figure skating competition started. Maybe she was the smart one.

And Bode Miller? Bode Miller won as many medals as Argentina.

While this must be mightily disturbing to the athletes, they might at least find it comforting to know it is not without precedence.

Darryl Seibel, chief of communications services for the U.S. Olympic Committee, knows about such things, and he says it would be uncommon if the success of one Olympics transferred seamlessly to the next. Not after you consider such factors as switching continents and the fact that "a lot of things can change in four years."

"We know from research that a country can pretty well expect a 41 percent drop-off (in medals) after it has hosted a Games," he said. "That could be part of the reason for what you're talking about."

Clearly, Seibel has done his homework as he braces for the spate of stories bound to emerge that are critical of the U.S. overall medal haul in Torino compared to Salt Lake City, where an all-time record 34 medals were won by the United States.

So far, 18 medals have been won in 2006, and the projection is for the 22-24 range.

The decline works out to just about 41 percent.

"We're very pleased with what we've accomplished here," Seibel said. "With four days to go, we've already surpassed our best performance ever outside the United States, and we've been at or near the top from day one in overall medals and gold medals.

"We knew it was going to be hard, especially with all the depth. Twenty-three nations have won medals, including Latvia, Estonia, Belarus and China."

You just can't discount the advantage a home country has in an Olympics, especially an Olympics in the winter, Seibel said.

"In the summer," he pointed out, "a 400-meter track is a 400-meter track. But a bobsled run or a ski run, they're all unique. There's a huge advantage in practicing for four years on your own tracks, your own ski runs. And then there's the advantage of the familiar surroundings and all the fans."

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The USOC man got a wistful look in his eye as he remembered the Salt Lake Games.

"In many ways, what's happened here has validated what we did in Salt Lake City," he said. "We took real advantage of the home-field environment. I think that in years to come, we're going to appreciate more and more just how special the Olympics were in Salt Lake."

For a sizable majority of 2002 medalists, I think that year is already here.


Lee Benson's column will run daily during the Torino Olympics. You can e-mail him at benson@desnews.com.

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