Digging deep for big results

VANCOUVER -- Sunday was a pretty crazy day. It was intense, just the way you think the Olympics should be. It wasn't just cool for me, it was cool for everyone. All the pieces just came together. I was psyched about the way I skied in downhill -- I came out charging. I made some mistakes but I skied hard and was really hammering. I powered out of the start. I won the top split, then made that mistake in the middle. My mistakes were a result of going as hard as I was. I was pretty stoked that I was still charging like that after already having given it my all in the other two events.

Before the slalom, I wasn't even really thinking about what it was going to take to win. I was like, "Alright, good job. I gotta go out and hammer and absolutely charge in slalom too." That's the way I've been skiing in all the races up here. It was tough in between runs. It was warm and I was pretty cashed. It was tough to try to get the feeling going. I really didn't know if I had it in me but once I got out of the gate in the second run and hit the first couple gates, I felt amazing. I was really quick and precise. I killed the top part of the course, I just ran out of gas half way down. I was fired up when I came across the finish but it wasn't really because I thought I was going to win. I knew I had dumped a bunch of time on the bottom. Kostelic was really close to me and Ted wasn't that far behind. There were still seven or eight guys left who had all proven they are really fast in slalom. I wasn't that far ahead -- it could have gone either way. I was just fired up because I didn't know if I was going to be able to put down a run like that. To be able to go out and ski that way was awesome. Before I saw my time, I was kind of laughing, like, "That was unbelievable."

The energy I felt during that race -- that's what the Olympics are about. It can be really powerful to people if it's the way it was on Sunday. Everyone who was there would tell you it was pretty incredible. That was only partially because of what I did. Ted skied out of his mind in slalom and won the run. Will Brandenburg, who has never scored a World Cup point, was only two hundredths behind Ted and finished the run second. Weibrecht, who doesn't even really ski slalom, killed it too. He laid it out, full dive across the finish line. It sent shivers up everyone's spine. It was just incredible how deep everyone was digging, how far out of their normal ability they were able to perform. I skied right at the limit of my ability. When the momentum starts flowing like that -- it's unbelievable to be a part of it.

I've had the same feeling a few other times during my career. When I first came onto the World Cup, I was young and not very strong. I started my first World Cup race in bib number 69 in Park City in front of home crowd. I felt the same energy then as here. I qualified and finished 11th. Everyone thought that was the most unbelievable thing that had ever happened there. It wasn't that I was that good -- it was that I was doing what I've been doing here. Digging deep and going after what I wanted and what I desired. I've done that a lot in my career but to be able to do it in a circumstance like this at the Olympics is incredible. At the Olympics in '02, I did the same thing. I put down two unbelievable runs that ended up earning me two silvers. On Sunday, I absolutely dug to the heart of what I believe skiing is. It's a different feeling from racing the way we normally race.

This is what I've been trying to do. It's why I came back and it's what I planned on doing this whole year. I knew what I was getting myself into. I knew it would be hard. I didn't know if it would work but it's 100 percent what I intended. I intended to come in here and win. It's what I said at the press conference and everyone looked at me like I was crazy because I only had one win this season. I knew it would take a toll on me but I was ready to do it.

I think the difference in my performance here compared to '06 comes down to the fact that part of me didn't even want to go to the Olympics in '06. Part of me wanted to go because I knew the possibilities of going. But part of me didn't want to because I didn't like where the whole thing was pointed. I didn't like being the poster boy and I didn't like a lot of the stuff that was surrounding it. This Olympics, I made a conscious decision to come back and wanted to be here. That is 100 percent the reason why I didn't have success there and I have had it here.

It's cool to have a gold medal and to have a full set of medals from here. It's good for my team and it's going to make a cool collection. But besides that, they are just medals. Those performances that we put down as a team Sunday -- that's what is really going to carry on. That's what was special to be a part of.