Alpine skiing-Cortina smiles on Johnson after previous pain

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy, Feb 8 : Cortina d'Ampezzo's Olimpia della Tofane piste wrecked Breezy Johnson's Olympic downhill hopes four years ago but made amends on Sunday, even if the gold medal came apart minutes after being hung round her neck.

Johnson held up the separated components - the chunky medal, clasp and ribbon - in the post-race press conference after becoming the first U.S. medallist of the Milano Cortina Games in the opening race of the women's Alpine ski programme.

"I was jumping in excitement and it broke. I'm sure somebody will fix it. It's not like crazy broken but it's a little broken," she said. 

'HEART ACHES' FOR LINDSEY VONN

The pain this time was for others - teammate Lindsey Vonn who was flown to hospital after a horrific crash while attempting to become the oldest Alpine Olympic medallist at the age of 41 and with a severely injured left knee.

"My heart aches for her. It's such a brutal sport sometimes," said Johnson.

Four years ago it was Johnson's heart that was aching after she qualified for the Beijing Games and then crashed in training for a Cortina World Cup downhill and was ruled out by injury.

The Wyoming-born skier was then banned for 14 months from October 2023, a sanction announced only in May 2024, after three anti-doping whereabouts failures. 

A year ago, also on February 8, in the Austrian resort of Saalbach, Johnson hit the headlines in a more positive sense by becoming downhill world champion.

Yet to win a World Cup race, she now holds the two most valuable titles at the same time and is only the second U.S. skier to win women's downhill gold after Vonn in 2010. Sunday was her first Olympic medal.

"Obviously I've had quite a history here," said Johnson, a keen knitter who had talked the day