He says was no fluke. Can he add Olympic to world?
And my goodness he couldn't try much harder. Good rhythm to the last set of gates.
45, 46, 47, 48, 5, 4, 6.
Hundreds of a second by 600.
Tomba double gold.
The biggest favorite does it. Tomba gets his second gold.
Giant slalom champion. Slalom champion.
He can't believe it. The fans never doubted it.
Frank Verndal, the world champion, takes the silver medal.
And a fairy story for Paul Fromo of Liechtenstein,
who until now in all his long career had never won an Olympic medal.
Gets the bronze like his brother Willie did in this same event back in Innsbruck in 76.
Tomba, gold, Verndal, silver, Fromo, bronze.
What a climax to the Alpine events here at the Kiska.
So what a triumph for the Italians. Alberto Tomba's two gold medals,
the first for their men's Alpine team since Piero Gross won this event at Innsbruck 12 years ago.
And what a pity that great Swede Ingmar Stenmark couldn't end his Olympic career with a fourth medal.
Still, that sensational second run by him is one that few here on the mountain will forget in a hurry.
Okay, coming up next, the four-man bobsled, so don't go away.
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Well okay, back here at the Four Man Bob competition, this very big crowd getting right behind every sled as it comes down the mountain.
The battle's still between the East Germans and the Russians.
The Australians have a chance to bump themselves up a couple of positions. Let's go back to the action.
The first sled down on this second run, that of Yanis Kipos of the Soviet Union, who's in joint fourth place.
This is the crew that set the new track record start of 5.18 seconds.
The 50 meter push on their first run.
Now they almost picked it up and threw it down the run on the first descent.
And again it's already quick. Now they run for about 50 feet.
Clock starts.
And on board, on board nicely, 5.19.
And you can see how much smoother and quicker it was as those four Soviet bobbers got on board.
Some of the sleds have still had the crews trying to get sat down as they've gone into the first bend.
So it's only a hundredth of a second slower than the track record that he set on his first descent.
Now it's about 150 yards short of the mile from top to bottom.
And top speeds down this accelerating straight were around the mid 70s, 74.8 miles an hour.
Although we started early in the morning here to try and protect the track and stop it from deteriorating too much in the heat, there is quite a chill wind blowing this morning.
No need for the sunshades out at the moment, 57.28.
Well that's about half a second slower than his first run.
We'll have to see how that compares with the others that will come later.
One minute 54 for Kippors, the gold medalist in the two men.
Egerhard Fasser in Switzerland one in seventh place.
Fertmair, Marcel Fassler and Werner Stocker.
They got away 5.23 on the first start, so they're better than that.
Hundreds of a second better and second best on this second run so far.
Three quarters of a second off the leaders on the first run.
26.4 course to second best.
This is a man who could well move up and challenge for one of the medals.
74.9 just under 75 miles an hour.
Former European and World Four Man champion back in 1983.
And the bronze medalist in the Four Man World Championships in St. Moritz last year.
57.17 would be the target time, 57.37.
And the total time of one minute 54.2 puts Fasser into second place.
Let's hope the three crewmen don't start pushing this sled before Adrian Dupiatz has got his grip on the push handle.
No gloves, bare knuckles.
This 25 year old ice hockey player with the Macquarie Bears.
5.54 was their first start, 5.56 and that's 12th quickest on this second run so far.
Dodds the youngster in this sled, he's only 19.
Student at Macquarie University.
And Stephen Craig, the brakeman at the back, he's only a year older, he's 20.
A back teller from Sydney who lists his pastimes as some surfing.
56.57, 11th quickest.
Time on their first time, 58.20, time on the left would be their target time for the lead.
They come down at 58.87.
One minute 57.07, 11th place.
Again, about half a second slower than his first run.
Well there's a terrific burst of anticipation down this bob run with Chris Lorry in Canada 1.
Bronze medal place after his first run.
Now this is the acid test, he was second sled down on the first run, had almost perfect conditions.
What can he do now that the track has begun to break up a little bit?
5.23 was his first start, 5.28 and in ninth best.
These Canadian crews have obviously trained here for several weeks, indeed weeks and months prior to the Olympic event.
They've seen more of this track than anyone else and should know it better than anyone else.
Andy Slim, Ken LeBlanc and Howard Dell, three crew, and he's in eighth place here, 26.63.
25 year old Chris Lorry comes from Windsor in Ontario, wasn't chosen to ride in the two men.
He had only ninth quickest on this second run, but remember he was in third place, so he's got a little bit of time to play with.
58.05, so he's lost ground, one minute 54.71, he's back to fifth.
And with Hoppe of East Germany and Hiltabrand of Switzerland to come down immediately after him,
we'll be pushed back at least a couple more places from there.
Silver medalist in the two men, defending Olympic champion from four years ago in the four man.
Wolfgang Hoppe in first place after his first run,
with an advantage of about a quarter of a second over Hiltabrand of Switzerland who was in second place.
That's a better start than the first, 5.24, it was a 5.26 on the first run.
But the aerodynamic advantage of these sleds and the skill of the drivers certainly showed itself on that first run.
These drivers aren't thinking about the bend that they're on, they're thinking a bend ahead, trying to remember what comes next.
Only fifth fastest on this second run, remember he's not had such a good draw.
35.62, he's improved a second, this will confirm him in first place.
Slips through the labyrinth, then around bend 12, right handed off 13, a long finishing sweep.
5.784 is the target time for the lead, yes he's well inside that, half a second inside it, 57.
I took it off the screen so quickly I couldn't read it, but it's a total time of 1.53.47.
His finishing time 57.31.
So Hoppe in first place, now Hiltabrand 43.
A tubby little electrician from Zürich.
World two man champion way back in 77.
5.25, they equal their first start, the push handles will slow to go down.
This is exactly the same crew with Hiltabrand that won the four man world championship at St. Lawrence last year.
Bellman, Fassbend and the brake man Andre Kaiser.
2012 quickest, 26.65, well Hiltabrand could drop a few places unless he picks up some speed here, 74.3.
The 21 medals awarded in Olympic Bob over the last few years, 12 of them have gone to East Germany, 5 to Switzerland.
And he stops the clock in 57.91, it's not good enough by Hiltabrand, he's lost ground and slipped from second to fourth.
So the halfway stage of the Olympic four man event, it's the two men who took gold and silver in the two man who occupy the top two places.
But this time in reverse order, East Germany's Wolfgang Hoppe leading over half a second ahead of Yannis Kippurs of the Soviet Union in second place,
who in turn is two tenths of a second ahead of Egerhard Fasser in Switzerland one.
Well that concludes the two four man Bob runs today and I think organizers made a pretty good move starting this competition earlier. Adrian, would you agree with that?
Yeah, the eight o'clock start has definitely ensured that the ice is going to be a more constant temperature throughout the two heats for today and that's fairer for everybody.
There's still a bit of an advantage to the first four or five sleds off, they've got clean ice, it's not rough, but overall it gives everybody a fairer opportunity.
But again you didn't get any luck with the draw.
No, we drew 25 out of 26 sleds so we were second last sled off today which didn't help our cause.
But tomorrow the order's reversed, we're second sled off tomorrow morning so hopefully we'll pull back a few places with that run.
Okay, sitting about 22nd we think today.
Yeah, 22, 23, there's still a few sleds to come but we're pretty happy with our result. If we can finish maybe 20, 21, maybe even crack an 18 we'll be very happy.
Good effort from our boys and of course the final two runs of this four man Bob competition on tomorrow.
Well in a few moments Mike, Chris and Jane will have made it back to our Olympic studio.
We hope you're enjoying our coverage of the 15th Olympic Games here in Calgary right on 9's Y Willow Sports.
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Welcome back and from the Saddle Dome we've simply skated across the car park to our studios here in the International Broadcast Centre.
We're not in bad shape are we? Speak for yourself. That's what Chris is saying.
Now, it's hard to get over what happened tonight and we'll certainly talk about that in a moment.
But first up let's have a look, Jane and Chris, at the great skating we've seen at the Games.
It began with the win in the pairs to little Ekaterina Gedeva and Sergei Grenkov.
And I suppose in terms of sheer excellence they were probably the most clear cut winners of the Games.
Yes, I would say so. They came out and they showed real confidence and skated beautifully throughout the Championships.
The rest of the pairs was a bit of a falling over competition and these were the couple that really went out and showed everybody how it was done.
You wonder were the body as tiny as that at the age of 16, although she's got a 16 year old face on top of it.
You talked earlier tonight about the way some girls progress as they grow up. What will happen to that little girl, whether she'll stay that tiny?
Yes, I have a feeling she will sort of stay fairly small. She'll probably grow a few when she's taller.
But she looks like she's going to have long legs and that's always a help.
Well she's 16, he's 21 and I guess it's just a matter of them staying as long as they want to in the sport and reeling in the gold medals because there's really nobody that can even approach them.
No, I think they're going to be dominating for the next two, three and possibly through to the next Olympics again.
And all the Russians back up behind them will be up there with the medals as well I think.
They've had a great games the Russians and in the sports they've won, in many of them they've been so dominant.
I mean the hockey team was just daylight second. The same with the pairs and I guess too the same with the ice dancing.
Yeah, they were possibly a lot of people said we could have posted the vote before the event started.
But they have been the most consistent over the last four years. I mean they've been there, they've won all the world championships.
They have so much confidence with their skating.
And if Gudeva and Grekkoff are the new blood in Russian skating I guess at these Winter Olympics we are watching Natalia and Andre for the last time.
Yes, I think they'll obviously do the world championships in two weeks time in Budapest and there again I don't think it will be a problem for them to get the gold medal.
But this is definitely their last season and hopefully it's not the last time we'll see them performing together.
They were so great when I watched them tour with you in Australia a few years back.
Is there any sort of movement in Russia for people to ever turn pro or is that impossible? It's just beyond the system.
It is possible now that there are several outlets for them to continue performing.
Her husband who is Igor Bobrin who was a former men's singles skater has a company of skaters of his own.
And indeed their trainer Tatiana Taraseva also has a company of her own.
So they can still continue to perform but I think what will be interesting for them is to perform in the West and earn some dollars.
And of course this event strangely enough was probably the most controversial of the skating and one of the most controversial of the games when your charges the Dushanis won the hearts of the crowd but not the judges.
And I guess you've spoken to them quite a bit in the last few days.
Yeah we've given them a lot of reassurance about what really happened, what their performance was like and they did skate really well.
And I think what came out of it was the general opinion of the powers that be that they need to sit down and talk about their marking and what is considered ice dancing and where they want the direction of the sport to go.
Well it was the only ice skating event where the crowd's choice didn't do well.
I mean we saw tonight the crowd went crazy over little Midori Ito and Liz Manley and rightfully so they got the marks as well.
Yes I think tonight's event was probably the best in that way it was very exciting and also the crowd saw the marks that they wanted to see from the judges.
Okay it was so exciting in just a moment we'll be back to take a look at the singles champions here at the 15th Winter Olympic Games.
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Nice to have you with us right around Australia on what's been a magnificent evening of figure skating at the Saddle Dome.
And I don't know about you two but I'm still fairly breathless. That was a great, great night.
Very exciting. I think probably the most exciting event.
I think it was built up around Debbie and Katerina and what really happened was that the people that nobody else was looking at really made the evening better.
Yeah but you were looking at because you told us before the evening started and I remember when Jane was saying but someone else could get...
Jane's just being nice. I mean I'd expect that from Jane but really we know that's not going to happen. Not much has been.
That's right. Liz Manley really came through and won that section of the long program tonight.
Although she finished second overall that part of the program was 50% of the marks which really bumped her up.
And Debbie Thomas actually finishing fourth and Ito coming in at third.
So I mean it really did put the cat amongst the pigeons tonight with those two skaters.
Yeah and we've had two great Sunday evenings of figure skating here on Wide World of Sports.
Let's go back to the previous Sunday. The Battle of the Brian's won by Brian Boitano, that fellow there.
And won decisively too even though I was quite surprised at the end he only won by.1.
Yeah I think as we said on the day that the winner would be or the anticipated winner was going to be Brian Orser if they both skated well on the night.
Certainly anticipated by one judge who still gave him a perfect six.
Well there you go.
But on the night Brian Orser didn't skate his best.
In terms of sheer quality I guess this was the skate of the games.
Yes I think so. It combined both things, the technical ability, the athleticism and the way he performed.
It was just what people liked to see.
Interestingly enough we were speaking with a choreographer tonight, Sander Besik.
And once they'd made the decision that he wasn't going to do the quadruple he started landing them consistently.
But they'd already decided definitely they weren't going to include it. But that doesn't stop him from working on it.
And I think we might see it in the Worlds in Hungary in a couple of weeks time.
His style I think just got to everybody. You talk about enjoying yourself out there, there were skaters who were smiling and laughing.
I mean there wasn't too many smiles, it was just a majestic, defiant, dramatic performance.
I think that's the word majestic. He sort of, from the previous year he was still doing some sort of rock jazz type movement.
But really wasn't characteristic of what he is. And I think he really found a style that suited him.
Brian Doitano, as we say, quite dramatic and he was really flawless in his performance.
The winner tonight, Katarina Witt, who takes away the gold medal yet again, maybe not quite flawless but nonetheless breathtaking.
Yes, she certainly deserved the gold medal for overall performance both in the compulsory figures, the short program and tonight in the long program.
What I enjoyed about her tonight more so than in Prague, which was only like six weeks ago, that I thought more maturity in her performance of the characterization of the piece that she was doing.
She was supposed to do a triple loop here. She decided not to do that and do her double loop.
She had been having some problems, I believe, in practice. So at that point she probably thought it was a mistake not to do a triple because Debbie's genre still had to escape.
But fortunately for her it didn't really matter.
And he was a little trick just there. She just came off that edge to do that combination.
But because of her performance and her ability, she was able to disguise it really quite nicely and make it look still quite a good performance.
She was the consistent performer, wasn't she? I mean she was third in the compulsory. She won the short program, second tonight.
And the other girls, like the little Japanese girl, they gave away such a big start. They all did their thing but she did it every time.
That's right, yeah. And that's what winning's about in this sport. It's not just the one event. You've got to be consistent over all the elements.
And what's the future, in your opinion, for Katarina? I mean she will defend the World Championship next month and then what?
Well, it's going to be interesting. There's rumours that she wants to become an actress.
But I think she will perform in a professional way for a short time, I think.
Whether it be in one of the ice shows or just guesting outside of East Germany.
Well, she's, as we say in Australia, a great sort. And for the first time since Sonia Henny back in the 30s, she has successfully defended her Olympic gold medal.
However, on the night, I felt there were a couple of little girls who maybe just blew the crowd away even more than Katarina.
One of them was this little girl 18 years of age from Nagoya in Japan, Maduro Ito.
Yeah, she just has incredible height on her jumps. And as I was saying earlier, although artistically she's not that accomplished,
but her skating, to see her live, her speed and the flow of the movement that she has when she's actually skating is in itself so enjoyable to watch.
So many skaters get a bad style and don't really get into the ice just on their basic stroking, which is just going forwards and backwards.
But this little girl really gets into the ice and attacks it.
Well, she was third tonight. I think she finished fourth in the short program. The compulsory's let her down. She finished 10th.
Is it possible that she can really work on those and get herself up to top three or four?
Hopefully next season, next year, she'll certainly know that she has to concentrate on the compulsory figures.
And hopefully she'll do better. I mean, if she would have been placed higher in the compulsory figures, she'd have been on the podium tonight.
Yeah, it would have been interesting to see if in actual fact going into this competition she would have been able to pull up one or two places more.
She could have even edged Debbie Thomas off the podium tonight.
Such a difference between her routine, which was so full of vitality and joy, and Katarina's, of course, much more dramatic.
But I think the crowd, I mean, they just really appreciated that.
Yeah, it was sort of a real true emotion there, isn't it? It really is.
Maduri Ito, all of 44 kilos, a little girl who had a pretty tough in life.
And as we say at the game, some dreams come true, and hers certainly came true here tonight.
But I guess of all the dreams that came true, the ones that were so vivid to us all were those of Liz Manley, who really just, you predicted that there could have been a fly in the ointment, and that pretty little fly just buzzed in and grabbed the silver medal.
It was a wonderful evening for her, and it was so nice to see her to be there when she did this performance.
I think the turning point was, you know, when she did her first triple and she landed it so smoothly.
It just set her up for the whole program.
I was so happy for the Canadians. I mean, they put on these marvelous games.
Brian also got tipped out for what they thought would be a gold medal.
The hockey team hasn't had the best of luck, and then suddenly out comes Elizabeth Manley, hoping for a bronze and grabs the silver.
Yeah, that was terrific.
Last year Liz Manley was, she had the chance to get on the podium at the World Championships, and she'd been terrific in all the practices.
And she dropped down from, she was lying third going into the long, dropped down to fifth or something, because she gave a bad performance.
And it was so nice to see her do it here just when it really mattered.
Talking to you over the last couple of weeks, two skaters that I've noticed you are particularly happy for, one was Brian Boitano and one was Liz Manley.
What was that?
Well, I think they've both been in the same situation.
You know, they've been capable of it, and they've just missed out.
Brian Boitano, last year in the World Championships lost his title.
And this little girl's always nearly been there and never quite made it.
But their skating, their quality of skating has been so strong.
And that when it does come together on the night, it was so good.
Certainly was, and it's certainly been a great pleasure for me to work with you both.
I've enjoyed it immensely.
We've enjoyed it too.
Yeah, we've had a lot of fun.
And the fun's going to continue down under this year.
Well, we hope so. Later this year, at the end of September, we hope to be coming down to Australia and doing a really extensive season around Australia for about six months.
Touring with the Russian team, some that we've seen at these Olympics and some that we've seen at other Olympics.
So we're really looking forward to that.
Gee, that will be great, because I know you've got millions and millions of fans and you've got some new routines.
It's all going to be a lot of new pieces.
Totally new show.
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You might see some Carica Chores, who knows.
Alright, and then a much bigger announcement than that.
At the Adelaide Grand Prix, we may see you behind the wheel, is that right?
Well, not on the actual Grand Prix. Maybe on those pre-races.
Yeah, the gauntlet's been thrown down by Warren Jones from Australia, and so I'll be driving for Great Britain, we hope.
Well done. Alright, well we'll look forward to that.
Because talking to you and getting to know you a bit better, I didn't realise that he's a wild speed man.
I'll be shopping for Great Britain.
It's going to be a lot of competition down there, isn't it?
Alright, thanks again on behalf of everybody who watched and enjoyed your commentaries, and we'll see you down under.
Thank you.
Okay, Jane Torval and Christopher Dean, I hope you're enjoying this Sunday night right around Australia.
Don't go away, because we've got lots more coming up.
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Welcome back and out we go now to Calgary's Olympic Oval, the first indoor speed skating venue in Olympic history.
And boy, hasn't that made a difference to performances.
In the eight speed skating races so far, no fewer than five world records have been smashed.
Could it be number six tonight?
It's the women's 1500 metres.
And coming onto the ice, one of the all-time greats, East Germany's Karen Kanya,
veteran now of three Olympic Games and holder of the world and Olympic records over this distance.
Your commentator, Ron Pickering.
Here's the great Karen Kanya.
What a reception she gets every time she's on ice.
I think I once said she's 5'9".
In fact, she's 5'11".
And when you stand next to her on ice skates, she dwarfs you.
And she is now skating for her eighth Olympic medal, making her the greatest woman skater in history.
Although, Skopelikova, of course, in the Soviet Union did get six golds.
But Karen Kanya, at 27, from Dresden, retires at the end of this magnificent season
against Mariek Stamm from Holland, a 23-year-old who was ninth in the European all-around since January.
So in saying that, I'm telling you that she's going to be left in the wake of Kanya,
who knows exactly what she's got to do.
The East German, Eric, has set the standard.
Lapuga of the Soviet Union, Hashimoto, have skated well as well.
She got very tired in the 3000 metres, but look at the drive this tremendous skater has.
The long push, it will be astonishing if she doesn't get a medal in this.
It was astonishing she didn't win the 1000 metres.
She hadn't lost one for two years.
She's on fast time, but remember, she can keep this form going longer than most.
She really does pace herself superbly.
Holds the world record at 159.30.
That was set at Hirnveen in March last year.
She knows here the conditions are better.
She's inside 56.95, inside Eric's time.
I don't think she'll collapse over the last 400 metres.
A little bit of skating history here with Karen Kanya, who we saw skate as Karen Enka
when she won in Sarajevo silver at 500, a gold at 1000, and a gold at this distance, plus a silver at 3000.
So she's going in a superb effort to retain her gold medal and still skating tremendously.
She's driving very, very hard against that 128.81.
She's got it, just 100th to find, and I think she can find it.
She's paced herself, unless that 3000 metre race took more out of her than anyone suspects.
She hadn't been on the ice for two days afterwards, but this is Karen Kanya,
and I think she senses that there's a gold, and what a marvellous end to her career it would make.
And she comes up now chasing 201.49.
Look at it, it's there.
201.82, she hasn't broken her old world record, but...