TORINO: Alpine: Quotes from Sestriere on the day of Mancuso's gold

TORINO: Alpine: Quotes from Sestriere on the day of Mancuso’s gold{mosimage}JESSE HUNT, U.S. alpine director
For us it’s great that some of our younger athletes can step up on the big stage. Certainly we expect our veterans to do that, but our younger athletes are stepping up. … The expectations she had coming into the season were really big after the performances she had at the World Championships, with the bronze.

APRIL MANCUSO, sister of Julia
She had the confidence and I knew she could do it. Before the first run I was nervous, and then after first run I was like, ‘Wow, she can do it.’ I had confidence she could do it anyway, but then I had no issue with that. I knew she could come down and win. … She’s really confident. She doesn’t get too nervous. She’s nervous, but she doesn’t get overwhelmed. It happens to a lot of people.

PATRICK RIML, head coach, U.S. women’s team
It cannot be tougher than it was today. The visibility and a tough course. The best won today. It’s definitely good to leave the Olympics with a medal. We were probably not as lucky as we expected to be. Especially after Lindsey crashed in the training run. We had a little bit of a rough start, so it’s good for us to get a medal for sure. … I saw her during inspection and said don’t change anything.

CIRO MANCUSO, father of Julia
She’s been a little disappointed all week about the other stuff. … All the elements came together in her favor, and they hadn’t come that way in the other races. We’re excited about it. I’ve been watching the frustration all week. Julia kind of marches to her own beat. She sets her own goals, and doesn’t let the frustrations of the team get her down. There were times that there was a lack of unity and a lack of Olympic spirit, because of all the tough expectations. It takes a special athlete to get over those and get through those. The predictions and the press and the pressure. At a point, she said I just have to do my thing. … She loves to ski, and we talked and I said, just go show the world how much you love to ski, and then the results will come.

TANJA POUTIAINEN, runner-up
First of all I think when I crossed the finish line the first idea to come up was that I got a medal in the Olympics, and that’s a huge thing for any athlete. For sure it’s also history for the Finnish alpine team. I hope tomorrow we get one more.