Evening star., 1952-02-16
|DownlliIlI Ski Event
WON BY Italian as !.
America Do Well
By1ths 4 Assgsia,isd prs..

By.ihs Asssstassd Press 81
NOREFJEIL., Norway, Eel. l6.
-zeno Colo, Italy's world cham
lpior downhill skier, ss Won the
Olympic downhill gold lnedaI to-
lday as Bill Beck, Dartmouth stu
Ident from Kingston, r. Il, came
lin fifth with a smashing ss,Tpris-
ling performance. L
4 The Americans hadn't been
3giyen ghost of 4 chance I'd clsack
into the point-sc coring first Six. SO
lBeck's outstanding run down the
hazardous, twisting 2,435-meter
course brought loud cheers from
the American roofing section at
the finish line.
| Colo, veteran italian star,
eoualed the course record of D
minutes ,30.8 seconds for his
plunge down the thinly covered
strip which winds through the
wooded mountainside and has
many narrow passages.
Another American 18th.
Beck. q three-sport athlete,
was. timed in 1888. When
he saw the result posted, he said,
~ never thought I had run that
fast"
Dick Buck of Soda Springs,
Calf. won 18th place with a
fine 1891 run and Jack Reddish
of Salt Lake City tied for l4th
with 2:41.5. Brooks Dodge, an
other Dartmouth student from
Gorham. N. H.. who wound up a
surprising sixth in the giant
lslalom yesterday. was caught in
l2:52.2 for SD position. He had
lots Of trouble today.
With three men in the top Is.
the American skiers made q far
better showing than had been ex-
lpected.
Two Austrian ski masters were
second and third with blazing
runs. Othmar Schneider was run
|nerup with 2::32, followed by
Christian Pravda's 1924. Pravda
was second to Stein Eriksen Of
Norway in the giant slalom yes
|terday. Eriksen finished sixth in
2:33.8. Freely Rubi. Switzerland's
top man, was fourth in 2::32.5.
Winner q Silent Type.
Colo, balding, 32-year-old wood
cutter. apparently is the silent
type. AL he said was "Oh,"
when he saw his time put
him in the lead. He soon disap-
peared from the crowd around the
finish line.
Eriksen went looking for him to
offer congratulations. The blond
Norseman. who has been dating
Katy Rodolph. pretty American
skier from Hayden, Colo, was
given another big hug by his girl
friend. Photographers snapped q
picture of the happy couple.
"I had a good rum" Eriksen
said, "but I seemed to slow down
toward the end"
Colois time equaled the record
for the course set by Norway's
|GuIlnar Hje1tnes. The Norwegian
was timedtin 2:35.8 today. Vii;
Luis DeRidder Of Areentina, d
former student at the University
of Utah. finished far back in
3:02.9.
u. S. Doing Well.
Beck's fifth place today was a
big lift for the United States team
which seems likely to better any
previous showing by Americans In
the winter games. In fact, the
United States is running far ahead
of the pace set at st. Moritz in
1948.
That was the year the Amer
leans gave Sweden and Switzer-
land a close race and finished
third in the unofficial standings.
The Americans topped the stand
ings at Lake Placid. N. Y, in 1892
but, because of the depression I
most European countries did not
send full squads.
All. standings dealing with the
Olympics are unofficial because
the high brass that runs the show
doesn't recognize anything except
individual winners. But unofficial
standings have been compiled ever
since the modern Olympics began
in 1896.
Going into today's events, the
Americans had 171a points, half
a point more than Austria, and
81a points more than at the same
stage in 1948.
The United States isn't likely to-
win the games since there are too.
many skiing events that are the
private property of the European
countries. But with this kind of
(See OT.YMpTcS page A.11A