Swede victory: Paerson captures elusive gold

SESTRIERE -- Anja Paerson finally took the step up from Olympic medalist to Olympic gold medalist Wednesday, and all sorts of wonderful things began to happen.

The king of Sweden caught Paerson's winning slalom performance on television and called to offer his congratulations.

"He's very happy for me," Paerson reported from the finish area.

Then came a call from Ingemar Stenmark, a Swedish icon, the country's most celebrated Alpine skier and the athlete Paerson worshiped as a child.

"I just spoke with him a few minutes ago," Paerson said at the news conference after her victory. "It's too big for me. ... He's my idol. I'm just a small girl from a small town in Sweden. Sometimes I have to pinch myself to believe it's true."

Paerson came into the slalom already established as one of the premier women's Alpine skiers in history. She is a two-time World Cup overall champion and won two races in last year's world championships.

Paerson earned two medals as a 20-year-old Olympic rookie in Salt Lake City in 2002 and added two more earlier in these Games. But none of them was gold, the true measure of greatness.

That changed with two mistake-free runs Wednesday. Paerson had a 0.45-of-a-second lead on Austria's Nicole Hosp after the first and held on through a fog-shrouded second run to win by 0.29.

"It was just one of those days where you have total harmony," Paerson said. "I was mentally in charge of my thoughts. I knew I had that feeling I needed for a good race. I just focused on the rhythm of the course and nothing else."

Paerson's victory also rejoined the battle with Croatia's Janica Kostelic for the title of Alpine's most dominant female skier. Kostelic, who has fought a stomach illness, finished fourth in the slalom, the first time in her last seven Olympic races she hasn't medaled.

But Kostelic earned gold in the combined and silver in the super-G in these Games to stand alone in Olympic Alpine history with the most golds for a woman (four) and total medals (six).

Paerson now has five Olympic medals and a shot at a sixth in Friday's giant slalom.

"I think it's interesting because they're really two very different skiers," said downhiller Chemmy Alcott of Britain. "Kostelic is much more a feeler; she feels the snow and takes the speed from it. Anja is really aggressive, so it's quite a battle."

Kostelic and Paerson have become friends as well as rivals the last four years, and earlier in these Games, when Paerson showed frustration at winning bronze instead of gold, Kostelic advised her friend to relax.

Paerson agreed after the slalom that Kostelic was right.

"What she said was true. I was in a bad place, and I knew I had to change it," Paerson said.

Circumstance had kept the two skiers in different orbits until Wednesday.

"Usually we have a good connection and we talk and we have fun, but in the first week we were staying in different hotels and we didn't really have that relationship," Paerson said. "Today we finally got together and talked a little bit.

"She's been better than me in the big events, but I value our relationship so much. To race against Janica is one of the things I love because I know I have to push myself to the limit.

"She motivates me, I think I motivate her, too. We help each other."

Friday's final women's race, the giant slalom, loomed as another Kostelic-Paerson showdown. Kostelic is the reigning gold medalist, and Paerson took silver in 2002.

But Kostelic said she had no strength after the slalom and does not think she will ski Friday.

"I gave everything and have nothing left," she said. "I feel the Olympics are over for me."

"But (Paerson) deserves the gold medal. She's won everything now."

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