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TORINO -- After winning her gold medal by just 0.04 of a second, Marianne Timmer stepped in front of Dutch television cameras, smiled and said, "Eight years later, and I'm still beautiful, eh?"
Timmer, who surprised all of the Netherlands with two gold medals eight years ago in the Nagano Winter Olympics, did indeed skate beautifully Sunday while staging another upset in the 1,000 meters in long-track speedskating.
But the twinkle the Helen Hunt look-alike displayed after her victory was hardly evident Tuesday when Timmer was disqualified on a disputed false start in the 500.
"I'm still angry," Timmer said, "so be careful."
Timmer, 31, also had a disappointing 2002 Olympics, where her best finish was fourth in the 1,000.
"That's the worst place you can have," she said. "It's terrible. It's better to be sixth, I think."
When Timmer won the 1998 Olympic 1,500 in world-record time and followed up with a victory in the 1,000, it gave her movie-star status in her speedskating-obsessed nation. But it also put her personal setbacks on the front pages of newspapers.
She was married briefly to her former coach, Peter Mueller, then won a lawsuit filed by her next coach, who claimed he was owed money.
This season she has said she is back on even emotional ground since beginning a relationship with the reserve goalkeeper on the soccer team the Netherlands will send to this summer's World Cup, Hink Timmer. They have the same last name but aren't married yet.
Her boyfriend didn't fare as well as Timmer did today, losing a game 3-2 in the Dutch soccer league.
To win, Timmer outskated the two women who were expected to battle for most of the long-track golds in Torino -- Canada's Cindy Klassen and Germany's Anni Friesinger.
Timmer's time of 1:16.05 was 0.04 of a second faster than that of Klassen, who became Canada's first woman to win three medals in a Winter Olympics, adding to her silver in the team pursuit and bronze in the 3,000.
Friesinger, a gold medalist in the team pursuit, was third, only 0.06 of a second off the winning time.
"Somehow, I did it again, and I don't know how it happened," said Timmer, who hasn't won a World Cup race all season. "It was crazy."
Chris Witty, the USA's defending gold medalist in the 1,000, wasn't able to break out of her season-long slump, finishing 27th in the 36-woman field. Jennifer Rodriguez, whose two bronze medals in 2002 included one in 1,000, was 10th.
Rodriguez, considered the USA's strongest hope for a women's long-track medal in Torino, conceded, "This was my best shot."
Florida-born Rodriguez teared up briefly when asked about the good-luck video sent to her by the Miami Heat.
Said Witty: "I put my best effort out there, and that's all you can hope for." She holds the 1,000 world record (1:13.83) -- the second-oldest mark at an Olympic distance -- which she set in the 2002 Games after overcoming mononucleosis.
Also for the USA, Amy Sannes was 25th and Elli Ochowicz 32nd.
That left the U.S. women long-track skaters still looking for their first medal, with Wednesday's 1,500 and Saturday's 5,000 left.
The last time the U.S. long-track women were shut out of the medals was 1984.
Disappointment wasn't limited to the U.S. women.
Chiara Simionato, considered a strong medal contender for host nation Italy, was in tears after placing 13th. Russia's Svetlana Zhurova, the 500 gold medalist in Torino, had to settle for seventh. And Hui Ren, the 500 bronze medalist, fell and didn't finish.
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