Sawt Falasteen - Brignone leads charge of veteran women as Italy celebrates record Olympic haul

Sunday was the highlight so far of an exceptional Games for Italy, Brignone rightly hailed by fans and fellow athletes after she came back from a broken leg to take a second gold of the Games on the day the nation took its tally to a record 22 medals.

At 35, and in near constant pain due to her career-threatening injury suffered last April, this year was probably Brignone's last chance to cap a late-career flourish -- she also won last year's giant slalom world title and the overall World Cup crown.

The miraculous nature of her comeback was underlined by the reaction of her rivals, with US star Mikaela Shiffrin calling her "very cool" while joint silver medallists Sara Hector and Thea Louise Stjernesund bowed down to her in the finish area.

"The thing is that I wanted really to be here... the energy, the winter, this sport was missing in my life so much," Brignone said after the race.

"I think if I was coming here to make gold medals, I would go home with no medals.

"I came here and it was already a miracle to be here, to carry the flag. This was one of the biggest things that I wanted and I was missing in my life."

Italy sits second in the medals table behind Norway and is on course to power well beyond its Winter Olympic record of 20 medals from Lillehammer 32 years ago, after the country's Olympic committee, CONI, set a target of 19.

Six of Italy's eight golds -- another national record -- have been won by four veteran women competitors -- Brignone, speed skaters Arianna Fontana and Francesca Lollobrigida, and biathlete Lisa Vittozzi.

Italy claimed four medals in a matter of hours on Sunday, with Vittozzi winning the country's first-ever biathlon gold, in the women's 10km pursuit, around the same time as Brignone's headline triumph.

- Home advantage? -

Brignone said that there is "no secret" to Italy's success this year, just "more investment, more training".

Flavio Roda, the head of Italy's winter sports federation (FISI), told AFP that investment across the board has increased by between 35 and 40 percent since the Beijing Games in 2022, when the country claimed 17 medals but just two golds.

"For sure, Italy invested a lot in winter sports in the last four years.... To have a home Olympics is an opportunity," said Brignone.

"It has been years (since) we were good in alpine skiing, biathlon, cross-country and every sport."

Fontana and double-gold winners Brignone and Lollobrigida -- who broke the Olympic record in the women's 3,000 metres speed skating -- are all 35 years old and heading towards the end of their careers.

Silver in the 500m short track was Fontana's 13th Olympic medal of her career, a record for any Italian athlete alongside fencer Edoardo Mangiarotti.

Italy's athletes have benefited from being able to train at the various Olympic sites and enjoy home advantage.

China claimed 15 medals at its home Winter Games in 2022 but this year has just four, with not a single gold in the bag so far.

"This (being the host nation) can be positive, but it can also add a bit of pressure and expectation," said Roda.

"But I think most of all is that everyone understood that the success of these Games also depended on our results."

Y.AlMasri--SF-PST