Show i Hi M AWILL A WILL FOR VICTORY l By Dan Staff Writer Sarah Will one of the most decorated going into the 2002 games has again proven she has what it takes to win the gold- gold again and again and again Will took command of the Alpine competition last Saturday taking center podium on all four events in the Ladies t division the Downhill Super-G Super Giant Slalom and Slalom In the first three events Downhill Super-G Super Giant Slalom Will edged American favorite Muffy Davis by a combined combined combined com com- calculated time of only 75 seconds You can call can me the silver girl Davis quipped settling settling settling set set- for the silver medal in each contest Calculated times are the thereal thereal thereal real time multiplied by the athletes athlete's athletes athlete's athletes athlete's ath ath- ath- ath letes lete's disability factor In the final event the Slalom Davis trailed Will Win by seconds after the first run and needed to push hard to catch up In doing so she fell and failed to finish the race In fact only third one-third of the racers who began the Slalom competition that morning crossed the finish line at the end of the second run After four weeks of use ct F I Is T s 4 y ya a sa a v i c tt h K n A happy Sarah fourth gold medal Cecilia Sweden and Kuniko Japan won silver and bronze respectably Photo by Dan during the Olympic and competitions the course at was a bit tattered The Ladies Slalom was the last event on the last day of I competition which added to the difficulty We were the last couple couple couple cou cou- of skiers to go down so all an anthe the good snow got pushed off and it was just firm finn conditions Will said Will was not without her problems problems problems lems at one point being forced t It t to come to a complete stop I came into the gate too straight she said At that SLALOM II point my main concern was stopping in time to make it She slid to a stop making the gate but costing her time Most athletes athletes athletes ath ath- letes would not have been able to recover Most 1 at athletes how how- ever are not Sarah Will Win Her mind racing equally equal equal- ly as fast as she was she made the split-second split decision to con con- I had some decent skiing in sections so although I stopped I just said I need to tomake tomake tomake make this gate and just fight for it itI I think it was survival for everyone During Saturdays Saturday's competition competition competition com com- petition Will Win had to force thought of winning a fourth gold r h Ii I i a I medal out of her mind Every time I thought about that I just put it out of my head she recalled I cant can't count anything until I have it and if you think about that you'll never make it to the finish In the end though Will came on strong beating her nearest competitor by sec sec- I feel like I got lucky on this one We all fought hard and it wasn't easy she said after the finish I dont don't feel that a lot of our runs were the best runs of our lives but its it's who makes it to the finish life first Will learned to ski at age four in 1988 a skiing accident accident accident acci acci- dent left her paralyzed below the waist Undaunted she learned how to pilot a ski mono-ski and nd now runs a ski mono-ski camp in Vail Colorado every December with US U.S. teammate Chris Waddell Will and Waddell make a good team owning 25 medals between them Having now participated ed in four competitions competitions competitions Will hints of yet another possible return in 2006 Never say never Sh She said coyly Who knows I might jump into See SLALOM on page 16 t Slalom the next one One thing is certai the 2002 games will be hard to beat And j what does Will attribute this years year's tremendous success to We found a cricket and took care of it she said Ive heard that cricket n- n i 1 always a will bring you good luck Apparently it worked A Jj |