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SAN SICARIO -- Michaela Dorfmeister placed the final jewel in one of skiing's most glorious crowns Wednesday by winning the women's downhill.
The 32-year-old Austrian, who will retire at the end of this season, is not only the oldest female Alpine skier in these Games, she now is the oldest female Alpine Olympic gold medalist. She held off surprising Martina Schild of Switzerland and Anja Paerson of Sweden to win her first race in three appearances in the Winter Games.
Dorfmeister came agonizingly close to gold in Nagano in 1998, losing the super-giant slalom to the USA's Picabo Street by 0.01 second. She failed to medal in four events in Salt Lake City in 2002, finishing fourth, fifth, sixth and ninth (in downhill).
"That elusive medal was probably the thing that has kept me skiing," Dorfmeister said.
She came into the race as the top-ranked World Cup downhiller this season and was first in one of the three training runs. Starting in the 23rd position Wednesday, she finished in 1 minute, 56.49 seconds, fastest by more than a second to that point.
"It would be too arrogant for me to say that I would win, but I must say I felt very well (before the race)," Dorfmeister said. "In past races I have been full of doubts; today I had no doubts. The little man in me told me it was my day."
Dorfmeister is the first Austrian woman to win the Olympic downhill since Annemarie Moser-Proll in 1980. She is poised, along with teammates Renate Goetschl (fourth Wednesday) and Alexandra Meissnitzer (tied for eighth), to leave an Austrian stamp on these Games.
"When we went to Nagano (in 1998), we were very young. In Salt Lake City we were not lucky," Dorfmeister said. "Now here we are here as the favorites. "
Schild is the granddaughter of 1948 downhill gold medalist Hedy Schlunegger. She is ranked 25th in World Cup downhill this season with no better than a fifth this season.
"I never was in the World Cup in the front before," the 24-year-old said. "But Olympics are the time for surprises, and it was me that was the surprise today."
Paerson, 24, set a goal five years ago to become a five-event contender for Torino. After winning silver in the giant slalom and bronze in the slalom in 2002, she showed in Wednesday's downhill she is on schedule. Skiing after Dorfmeister and Schild, Paerson had the fastest time through the first four intervals before a mistake cost her the gold by 0.64 seconds and silver by 0.27.
Julia Mancuso's seventh-place finish led the U.S. foursome. Lindsey Kildow, racing 48 hours after a bone-jarring crash in training, was tied for eighth. Stacey Cook was 19th and Kirsten Clark 21st.
"(I made) no major mistakes, just opening out of my tuck a couple of places," said Mancuso, who had three top-three World Cup finishes coming into the Olympics.
"My three training runs went really well, and this race was pretty good, too. I just didn't get on the good side of the time."
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