Olympics story by Fred Smith, Tue, 14 Feb 2006 16:16:00 GMT


BARDONECCHIA, Italy - Hannah Teter and Gretchen Bleiler gave grand performances of snowboarding and clinched a memorable one-two for the United States in the women's halfpipe. Norway's Kjersti Buass came in third, while Kelly Clark claimed the fourth spot.

Clark had claimed the gold medal at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. But the day belonged to 19-year-old Hannah Teter, whose grace and poise won her many admirers on a glorious Alpine afternoon. Teter's stunning 900-degree spin in midair and the subsequent graceful grab at her snowboard won the judges and spectators over and in the end that was what separated her from silver medallist Gretchen Bleiler.

"I could feel it, being caught up with the energy and emotion of the whole scene here," Teter said of her effort. Bleiler was also very delighted with her effort. She had been very unlucky to miss qualifying for the Salt Lake City events and more than made u for her absence four years ago, "The Olympics and medaling at the Olympics has been a dream of mine since I was a little girl, and I worked so hard to get where I am and it's an unbelievable feeling," she said.

Norwegian Kjersti Buaas, who edged out Clark for the bronze said that she was aware that in essence she was representing Europe in this competition, "Just before my ride, I heard somebody say I was the last one with a chance to split the Americans," Buass said. "I said, 'Oh no. All of Europe depends on me.' I tried to go big and I came down and I was second and was, like — 'What?' — and I couldn't believe it. I was really, really happy."

Clark was disappointed at missing out on consecutive medals in the Olympics, but said she was satisfied with her efforts, "I just came up a little bit in the back seat and didn't land it. But getting to go through something like the Olympics with your best friends … it couldn't be any better."

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