Bloom fails to medal, turns focus to pro football

A bobble through the bumps and a small splash of snow hit Jeremy Bloom harder than any linebacker could.

Might have made him wish he'd stuck to football, too.

Bloom's skiing adventure came to a less-than-satisfying close Wednesday. The two-sport star finished sixth in Olympic moguls and felt compelled to smile through it all, even though the ending wasn't the one everyone expected.

"It really isn't about winning the medal for me," Bloom insisted.

That honor went to fellow American Toby Dawson, who capped off four years of single-minded toil to finish third. Mikko Ronkainen of Finland won silver and Dale Begg-Smith of Australia added to his recent dominance by taking the gold.

American Travis Mayer, the silver medalist in 2002, finished seventh and announced his retirement afterward.

Bloom has bigger things on his radar now -- starting with a trip to the NFL scouting combine next week -- and wallowing in disappointment isn't part of that.

"This may be my last mogul competition and if so, I'll look back on it with a huge smile on my face," he said. "I've had more success in this sport than I ever dreamed possible. It's just been an amazing ride and I don't think a medal here would have affected that at all."

Bloom's two years as a football player at the University of Colorado ended after the NCAA ruled he couldn't accept endorsement money for skiing.

Determined not to be pushed around, Bloom dropped out of school and focused on skiing, saying football was his true love but refusing to give up his other passion. To him, the move was as much a matter of principle as practicality. He also wanted to better his ninth-place finish in the 2002 Games.

He won an unprecedented six straight races and the World Cup title last season, positioning himself as the man to beat in 2006.

Then, the finale -- an average trip down the slope at Sauze d'Oulx.

"I knew I had made a mistake," he said, referring to his run. "I came here to accomplish my goals. I didn't come here to win any certain color medals. I was so close, you know."

U.S. freestyle coach Jeff Wintersteen said nobody should have expected Bloom to coast to a medal.

"A lot of people made the assumption that it was in the bank, but it wasn't," Wintersteen said. "I thought Jeremy handled the pressure extraordinarily well. His run was quite good, he just made a little error and it ended up costing us."

With six touchdowns of 75 yards or more during his two-year college career at Colorado, Bloom might have been a first-round draft pick had he stuck with football.

But he is small, only 5-foot-9, 175 pounds. Out of football shape, he'll have to be at his best as tryouts progress over the next few months.

He wasn't Wednesday, which left him looking ahead almost before he caught his breath at the bottom of the hill.

"It's great to have that right now -- something that's such a big challenge right ahead of me," Bloom said.

Austrian wins downhill

Michaela Dorfmeister won the women's downhill for the Olympic gold medal that had eluded her for so long with a dominant run through windy, gloomy conditions in the Italian Alps.

Martina Schild of Switzerland won the silver and Anja Paerson of Sweden the bronze.

American Lindsey Kildow, skiing 48 hours after a horrific crash in a training run put her in a hospital overnight, tied for eighth

Hedrick falls short of goal

Chad Hedrick's hope of matching Eric Heiden's record five gold medals in a Winter Olympics ended Wednesday night when the Americans were eliminated in the quarterfinals of team pursuit.

Hedrick, K.C. Boutiette and Charles Ryan Leveille lost to the Italian team of Matteo Anesi, Stefano Donagrandi and Enrico Fabris by nearly a half-second after leading through the first four laps.

Leveille and Hedrick were first across the finish line, but Boutiette lagged about 10 feet behind. The Italians crossed together, giving them the surprising victory on home ice.

A team wins when its third skater crosses the finish line.

China's first gold

Wang Meng gave China an expected gold medal in women's 500-meter short track, holding off Bulgaria's Evgenia Radanova by about the length of a skate blade.

The 20-year-old Wang, skating in her first Olympics, was an overwhelming favorite in the 500, having won all four World Cup races this season.

U.S. men lose in curling

Italy shocked the United States and rocked the Olympic curling venue, earning a victory in the men's opening round.

Italy is not a traditional curling power and is only in the tournament as host country.

U.S. women win

The U.S. women earned their first Olympic victory -- they'll need several more to dig out of the hole they fell into when they lost their first three games at the curling venue outside of Turin.

The Americans will probably need to win four -- if not all -- of the next five games to have a chance at the medal round. They are in last place in the round-robin; Norway is first at 3-1 with Canada, Britain, Sweden and Switzerland tied at 2-1.

-- The Associated Press