Austrian inquest begins
Sunday February 28, 2010 - Email this article to a friend

Their last hope was Benjamin Raich in the slalom.  He was the defending champion and won a gold in the GS too last time round in Turin. He is a skiing legend back in his home country.

This time though he was out of the medals and was reportedly distraught after the event.

For the ski mad nation of Austria returning home with no men's medals is almost unthinkable.

The sport is treated with the same passion as football in the UK and is frequently on the front pages rather than the back pages.

Elusive for the AustriansThey won a record 14 Alpine medals in Turin; 8 for the men and 6 for the women.  Total humiliation was saved by the country's women's skiers who got 4 medals; I gold, 1 silver and 2 bronzes.

The men did finish 4^th in 5 of the events so they were just out of contention but sport is a cruel master and second best simply won't do for many.

The previous worst result was in the 1976 Innsbruck Games. The only medal that the Austrian men won was Franz Klammer's gold in downhill.

That though was something very, very special.  This time round there is no such distraction for glory hungry Austrian fans.

Heads will undoubtedly roll in the Austrian team and backroom staff and scapegoats will be found.

People with a bit more perspective and longer memories will remember that Switzerland got no medals at all in the men's alpine events in 2002 in Salt Lake City and similar questions were asked.

Now they reign supreme amoung the European nations.

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