Stefania Belmondo, nicknamed 'lo scricciolo' because of her minute figure, was the first one to ‘break the ice’ the 9th of February with her spectacular free style 15 km cross country (39:54.4): an exalting victory, celebrated by the athlete’s happy and passion drenched shout upon reaching the finish line.  Hers is the second gold of her career, a gold she has been craving since the one she conquered in Albertville, ten years ago. Despite her stick breaking three quarters down the race, the leader of the Italian team has decidedly dominated the whole race, with the resilience of not giving up to contrast the ill luck which too often prevented her from being victorious.

Armin Zoeggeler, a carabiniere with an innate passion for the bobsleigh ever since he was six years old, also has a girlfriend and a one year old girl to whom he dedicated his gold medal, won at 140 km per hour the 11th of February. A passion for a sport that’s not often spoken of, but which in Alto Adige, his land of origin, is a true tradition. Armin, 28 years of age, 84 kilos of weight for 181 cm of height, an explosive physique, won the luge race in less than three minutes (2:57.941), adding the gold medal to his previous victories: 3 World Cups, the World championship, the European championship of 2001, the Olympic bronze medal at Lillehammer and the silver medal at Nagano in 1998. And especially, defeating the legend George Hack, winner of three gold medals and two silver ones.

The 12th of February Isolde Kostner brought the silver medal home for the free downhill, second to French Montillet, in a race that was postponed various times because of the strong gusts of wind which for hours and without cease swept across the Mormons city. 1:40. 01 the result, the best ever obtained in downhill events. 27 years of age, the Italian athlete had won two bronze medals in Lillehammer, two gold medals at the world championships of 1996 and 1997, and a silver medal at St Anton 2001.

Italy obtained great satisfaction also in women’s Super-G skiing in Salt Lake, where Daniela Ceccarelli and Karen Putzer have conquered respectively gold and bronze. The success of the two champions, police agents by profession, was widely celebrated at the Centre of Alpine Training of the State Police in Moena, where the young women were directed in their training: for body training, the athletes follow the basic programme for skiing athletes. Colonel Alvaro de Palma, director of the training centre, points out: "Naturally, everything including the diet, is calibrated on the person. They too, like the athletes of other disciplines, observe a Mediterranean diet. Each of them has their own little secrets. The descent requires techniques and readiness of reflexes. The athlete gets ready and is in front of the track. There cannot be any imperfections". Training for the downhill racers are really tough: gymnastics, sittings in the gym to balance the muscling and entire days on sis, following the tracks set out by trainers, which are filmed and then analyses to consider difficulties and errors.

Italian skating has also given us strong emotions, with the bronze medal obtained by the couple Barbara Fusar Poli and Maurizio Margaglio in figure skating dance. They were the first Italian athletes in the history of the games to reach this objective, but their was a painful and polemic full victory. On the rhythm of Gloria Gaynor’s "I will survive", after half an hour from the beginning of their show, Maurizio Margaglio unexpectedly fell over backwards, ending up on the ice. A fall that provoked rage and pain in the couple, especially in Fusarpoli, who declared that she was aiming uniquely at the gold.

Christian Zorzi’s is another bronze which left a bitter taste: in the Soldier Hollow ring, the favoured candidate for the gold in the men’s sprint cross country of the Games has had to let through a Norwegian and a German.

February.2002