Alpine skiing-Brazil's Pinheiro Braathen makes history with giant slalom gold

BORMIO, Italy, Feb 14 : Brazil's Lucas Pinheiro Braathen made South American sporting history as his samba skiing propelled him to a stunning Olympic giant slalom gold in a driving blizzard on Saturday.

No athlete from the continent had ever won a medal of any colour at the Winter Games, but the 25-year-old put that right with two incredible runs down the Stelvio course to hold off Swiss Marco Odermatt by 0.58 seconds.

"I was skiing completely according to my intuition and my heart today, and that's what enabled me to become an Olympic champ," Pinheiro Braathen, who switched allegiance from Norway to Brazil in 2004 after briefly quitting, said.

"It had nothing to do with the medal, it had nothing to do with the history that I had the potential of writing.

"I just wanted to ski as the person I am. I know I can be the best in the world if I do that to the greatest extent."

The Norway-born slalom showman opened up a massive 0.95-second lead over Odermatt in a masterful first run in which only seven skiers were within two seconds of him.

Only a crash or an extraordinary Odermatt surge looked like it could deny him gold in the second as the weather closed in.

Reigning giant slalom champion Odermatt cranked up the pressure with a searing second run to take the lead, leaving last man Pinheiro Braathen 54 gates from glory.

After pushing out of the start gate in his silver helmet, Pinheiro Braathen leaked away some of his advantage with a few ragged turns, but he avoided anything too damaging to hold on to the gold medal.

After crossing the line Pinheiro Braathen collapsed to the snow before getting up again and holding his skis aloft to the roaring grandstand, where a smattering of Brazilian fans acclaimed one of the soccer-mad country's