Sawt Falasteen - Italy's extrovert Olympic icon Alberto Tomba insists he is 'shy guy'

Now 59, "Tomba la Bomba", or "Tomba the Bomb", lives a less frenetic lifestyle than the one he had when his electric skiing made him a force in the slalom and giant slalom, the disciplines in which he won all five of his Olympic medals in the late 1980s and 1990s.

He says in reality his public persona was a character invented for him, a role that made him so uncomfortable it was one of the reasons he quit the sport at just 31 years old, already tired of the media circus that surrounded him.

Talking to AFP in a Rome bookstore where he was presenting his new autobiography "The Longest Slalom" weeks before the start of the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, he said: "I felt nauseous, I was tired, stressed, the press was constantly on my back, writing all sorts of nonsense.

"I was a shy guy, but a television network that was always on my back, wanted to do something new with me.

"I was the city boy, different from the quiet mountain man, and the entire press, to boost sales, took advantage of me and of that persona."

The son of a textile magnate from a town near Bologna, Tomba was known for his exuberance and off-the-cuff remarks, referring to himself as a "beast" and "the new messiah", but today he cuts a more languid, self-effacing figure.

"Would I beat today's skiers? Maybe. You'd have to ask the experts, because I don't know," he says with the modesty that was rarely on show during his colourful career.

Tomba was in his early 20s when he shot to fame by winning gold in the slalom and giant slalom at his debut Olympics, in Calgary in 1988, when he also made some waves by propositioning East Germany's figure skating hero Katarina Witt.

"Just being at the Games at the age of 21 was fantastic, but the two golds changed my life completely," said Tomba.

- 'Won too much' -

All eyes were on Tomba for the Albertville Games four years later but he handled the pressure well, successfully defending his giant slalom title and taking silver in the slalom.

"That were definitely my most difficult Olympics, there was enormous pressure on me. Everyone was waiting for Alberto in Albertville," said Tomba.

Tomba only took silver in the slalom in Lillehammer in 1994, but he thrilled skiing fans in temperatures of minus 30 Celsius (minus 22 Fahrenheit) by roaring back from 12th place -- nearly two seconds off the pace -- in the first run to finish just 0.15sec behind eventual winner Thomas Stangassinger.

That was his last Olympic medal as he left the 1998 Games in Nagano empty-handed.

"Maybe I'd won too much," he jokes.

"I hurt myself in a huge crash in the giant slalom. I tried to do the slalom, but everything was awful -- the fog, the snow."

Tomba ended his career a few weeks later a legend of the sport, with two world championship golds and one overall World Cup title to his name -- as well as four titles each in the slalom and giant slalom -- to go with his Olympic success.

His 50 World Cup wins are the most of any Italian skier and place him fifth in the all-time men's list, but he says his most cherished memory was holding the Olympic flame during the opening ceremony of the 2006 Games in Turin.

"That was even better than my double gold in Calgary," saidTomba.

"There were 80,000 people waiting for me when I walked into the stadium with the flame, what I felt at that moment was unique."

I.Saadi--SF-PST