Aussie Begg-Smith wins moguls gold
Aussie Begg-Smith wins moguls gold
Dale Begg-Smith has won Australia's first medal of the 2006 Winter Olympics in the men's moguls.
The outright favourite coming into the event after winning three of the last four World Cups, Begg-Smith qualified first for the final and continued that form into the decider, taking it out with a score of 26.77.
He edged out Finn Mikko Ronkainen (26.62) and American Toby Dawson (26.30).
Fellow Australian Nick Fisher achieved his best ever result in a top tier competition finishing 12th (23.39).
But it was Begg-Smith's night as he seamlessly skied down the Sauze D'Oulx course to record Australia's third ever Winter Olympics gold medal after Steven Bradbury (short track speed skating) and Alisa Camplin (freestyle aerials) both won in 2002.
The 21-year-old born and raised Canadian was last down the course and knew exactly what was required to win and didn't disappoint.
Begg-Smith scored well with his tricks - an inverted jump with cross and an off axis 720 - and had a reasonable run time but it was for his turns - which account for 50 per cent of the total score - that he again did best.
Brought up in Vancouver, Begg-Smith came to Australia as a 15-year-old with his brother Jason, who finished 29th in Turin.
They had decided they could no longer participate in the Canadian moguls skiing program because it clashed with their business.
The pair run an internet advertising company which has been the source of much speculation and was again in the post-event media conference on Wednesday night.
Begg-Smith fielded as many questions about the nature of what the business was involved in as he did about actually winning a gold medal.
The Lamborghini-driving Begg-Smith refused to divulge many details about his company but he offered a bit more about the Olympic experience.
"It's unbelievable, it's awesome, it's what I've always wanted," said Begg-Smith.
"I'm very happy to do it for Australia."
He said racing last in the final had helped.
"I was happy to run last because you get to know how everyone else did and I knew there were some good scores up there so I was sure not to make any mistakes," Begg-Smith said.
"I knew that was the best run I could do at the time and that's what I wanted to do."
Michael Robertson, the other Australian in the event, finished 24th.
Associated Press
