For the first time in Olympic history, an Alpine skiing event ended in a tie for the gold medal. Slovenia's Tina Maze and Switzerland's Dominique Gisin both won the women's downhill Wednesday, completing the course in 1 minute, 41.57 seconds. The women, who are good friends, held hands as they stepped to the top of the podium.
"Maybe just one finger or one hand can change the color of a medal,'' Maze told the Associated Press.
"I'm sure glad I'm going to share this gold with Tina,'' Gisin said.
Lara Gut of Switzerland won the bronze, finishing 0.10 behind the winners. Pre-race favorites Julia Mancuso of the United States and Maria Hoefl-Riesch of Germany both had disappointing performances and finished well out of contention.
There have been eight other occasions when Olympic gold had been awarded to two competitors, most recently at the 1998 Nagano Games when Didier Cuche and Hans Knauss tied in the men's Super-G.