Alpine skiing-McGrath’s solitary walk into the woods captures weight of Olympic loss

BORMIO, Italy, Feb 16 : No one would have blamed Norway's Atle Lie McGrath if he had opted to spend the night alone in the woods he sought sanctuary in after his Olympic gold-medal dream was shattered on Monday.    The 25-year-old led the men's slalom after a brilliant first leg but with a 0.59-second cushion over Swiss Loic Meillard as he started his second on the Stelvio course, calamity struck.    Shortly after beginning his weave down through the red and blue gates, the World Cup slalom leader made a minor misjudgement and suffered the slalom skiers' curse - the dreaded straddle - and his hopes of gold went in a flash.    As Meillard celebrated becoming Olympic champion down at the finish, a heartbroken McGrath simply wanted to disappear.    Shedding his skis and poles he stomped across the piste towards the trees lining the steep course. After stewing in the snow next to the red perimeter fence, he was helped down the slope in a police Ski-Doo before beating a retreat.    To his credit, McGrath, whose grandfather Svein Lie died, aged 83, on the day of the opening ceremony and who he so wanted to honour by winning gold, met reporters back at the same team hotel where days earlier he had recounted hiking and cross-country skiing adventures with the man he described as an inspiration.    "It's a mix of shock and just everything in between, it's like a surreal feeling.

I haven't really experienced anything like it before," a clearly emotional McGrath said.    "I'm normally very good when it comes to perspective on things, if I don't ski well in a race I can at least say that everyone I love is healthy, but that's not been the case here. I lost someone I love so much and that makes it more...    "It's not the worst