Heroes abound: Flying Tomato to Italian kings

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Right. It worked for Italian ski hero Alberto Tomba with two-time skating gold medalist Katarina Witt, but that was 18 years ago and on a different continent. And Cohen may not have been up for it, anyway, after Japan’s Shizuka Arakawa beat her and Russia’s Irina Slutskaya for figure-skating gold.

In a particularly touching moment, Arakawa used the limelight to plead for more support for her sport back home.

“The rink where I did most of my fundamental training has closed down. It’s very sad,” she said, adding a moment later, “I’m almost forced to train in the United States.”

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That was no guarantee of success in these Olympics, but Americans did finish with their second-best Winter Games haul ever, second only to the 34 medals won at Salt Lake City in 2002.

Among the highlights were Davis’ speedskating medal, the first by a black athlete in any individual Winter Olympic sport; golden smiles by fresh-faced skiers Ted Ligety and Julia Mancuso, both 21, holding out the promise of more in the future; the boyish glee of Apolo Anton Ohno, who recovered from a bad start to win a gold and two bronze medals; and dazzling performances by White and the rest of his snowboarding posse, who delivered seven medals.

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Feb. 26: See photos of athletes' highs and lows from Sunday.
Snowboardcross, a kind of NASCAR on ice, was not only the surprise winner as an event at these Olympics, it provided a kiss between the men’s and women’s gold medalists that had everybody buzzing.

American Seth Wescott is dating the women’s winner, Tanja Frieden of Switzerland. His Swiss miss sneaked in for gold after Wescott’s teammate, Lindsey Jacobellis, tried to provide a flourish at the end of her race, slipped and had to settle for silver.

“I started celebrating once Tanja won,” Wescott said sheepishly. “Nothing against Lindsey.”

If the two snowboardcrossers marry and Frieden becomes an American citizen, the U.S. could have another gold medal import for the next Winter Games in Vancouver.

After all, it worked this time.

Tanith Belbin teamed with Ben Agosto to win silver in ice dancing, the U.S.’s first medal in that event since 1976. “I am extremely proud that we’ve been able to achieve this for our country,” Belbin said.

It’s been her country all of two months. A Canadian by birth, Belbin became a U.S. citizen on Dec. 31.

Jim Litke is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at jlitkeap.org.

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