K.C. ALFRED / Union-Tribune Leading after the short program, Sasha Cohen would fall twice in the first 35 seconds of her free skate, and was surprised to still be a medalist.

What's Inside Put 5 medals together, and you have the Olympic rings Daily most harrowing event: 10k descent Medals are flip side of riskiness on skis Head-bangin' Swedes win heavy medal Familiarity cuts no ice on rink Olympic results Chronicle of the Games More Turin 2006

Losing her feat

Cohen, Slutskaya fall from top spots; Arakawa gets Asia's first skating gold

By Mark Zeigler
STAFF WRITER

TURIN, Italy – What struck figure skating coach Nikolai Morosov when he first saw Japan's Shizuka Arakawa on the ice was not her huge jumps or willowy 5-foot-5 frame or elegant lines or her ability to interpret a complicated piece of music.

By Chris Jenkins
STAFF WRITER

BARDONECCHIA, Italy – For the final touches on the true American success story of the Winter Olympics, Team USA looked to “The Last Frontier” and a 30-year-old woman from Alaska who was down to her own last chance.

By Mark Zeigler
STAFF WRITER

TURIN, Italy – For the past 25 years, Silvia Fontana spent a large chunk of her waking hours shivering in an ice rink, tirelessly practicing spins and jumps and spiral sequences, wondering all along exactly why she was doing it.