Snowboard cross is a discipline which involves speed.
Riders ready? Attention...
A snowboard cross athlete needs to be physically strong.
When you think these athletes are travelling at 70, 80,
90km an hour, they have to think fast.
They must have immense mental speed when making decisions.
It's a sport which carries
a high risk of injury, it's obvious, it's evident.
At the aerobic level, the physical level,
the muscular level, the strength level,
everything has to be perfect.
From head to toe.
Green light for Michela Moioli.
She's starting from the centre, Eva Samkova is next to her.
They are competing right now.
Chloe Trespeuch is also off to a good start.
The gold medal race is under way and its Trespeuch who's had
the best start but there's three at the same speed.
Moioli is now second... Moioli has now overtaken!
(AGAINST ALL ODDS - MICHELA MOIOLI)
(COLERE, ITALY)
Winter would come.
I would dream...
I would dream of snow, I would dream of snowflakes,
I would dream it was going to snow and when it snowed,
I was so happy.
Michela!
Michela was spotted by chance on the Colere ski slopes.
And I'll always remember the image
of seeing this little girl going straight down the tracks.
I wanted to snowboard. I wasn't bothered
about having the most beautiful stance in the world,
about being the nicest to watch.
I was interested in going fast,
in being the strongest and having fun.
My phone rang
and Luca Pozzolini was calling me,
and he said: "Hi, this is Luca,
I’m the coach of the Italian National Snowboard Team,
I was wondering if you’d like to come
and train with us, try some races,
and the Olympics are this year..."
I don’t remember what else he said
because my brain went haywire.
My only thought was: "The National Team. A dream!"
It was the 2012 season and we thought,
"With a couple of years of experience,
"of high-level training
"and accompanied by senior staff, etc,
"she could do well racing in the 2014 Sochi Olympics."
That was our idea.
She was very young when she joined National Team A
and that made Michela very anxious,
so much so that she avoided talking to her coach
and she didn't interact much with her team-mates.
She was so anxious, so anxious because,
as I said earlier,
you go from the provincial team
straight to the competitive team — the A Team -
and then in a few years you find yourself being catapulted
straight into the Olympics and you think, "Where am I going?
"Where are we going? And where is Michela going?"
All of these guaranteed a top six finish
in the Olympic Winter games.
Michela Moioli, the Italian.
Riders, ready?
It's the Olympic final. The top three will pick up medals.
At that moment, her anxiety reaches its highest peak.
Anxiety is something which can stimulate you or inhibit you,
depending on how you deal with it.
It's possible that at Sochi she wasn't really ready.
But look at that, Michela Moioli's made great progress...
Oh, the edges touch.
What happened to Michela Moioli on that last jump?
She has a distortion injury,
she has probably injured some ligaments.
It was a bad injury.
Such an accident can cripple a career.
We hope she'll make a full recovery.
Whatever I did, I did it
thinking about the track at PyeongChang.
I did it thinking about the jumps, the curves...anything.
It's like tempering iron, at this level.
Either it breaks or it becomes the strongest.
An Italian in the final.
The field is at the highest world level.
Big final, gold medal race.
I strapped my feet into the board.
I held the starting gate.
I looked at the camera, which was pointing at me. I smiled.
It's the same smile as when she's sure of herself,
she has that smile.
Michela Moioli, world cup leader.
It wasn't the Michela Moioli who raced at Sochi.
It wasn't even a relative of that Michela Moioli.
Going to the Olympics isn't a nice trip.
They only have one shot, so it has to go well.
This is as good as snowboard cross gets.
Riders, ready?
Green light for Michela Moioli.
She's starting from the centre, Eva Samkova is next to her.
The number one rule was,
"It is banned to think about the medal
"until it is hanging on your neck."
The gold medal race is under way and it's Trespeuch who's
had the best start but there's three really fighting hard.
A very fast line for Moioli who is going on the inside.
It takes everything to win, it's a mix.
Jacobellis is in front.
Is it going to be redemption day for the American?
Power, class, planning, strength.
Without one of those elements, you wouldn't be where you are.
Almost a touch of boards between the first two.
Moioli is now second... Moioli has overtaken...
Moioli is taking the lead right now, ahead of Jacobellis.
It's Moioli that takes over Jacobellis.
Unbelievable scenes.
Moioli's taking the lead, she's just overtaken Lindsey,
who is now in Trespeuch's way.
What else can happen in this sport?
Michela Moioli ahead.
Michela Moioli heading towards the last series of jumps
and rollers to manage the situation.
Moioli has now opened up the gap between her
and the rest of the field.
Last jump and then the finishing line...
Is Moioli going to win gold here?
Italy takes gold with Michela Moioli!
Michela Moioli and the tricolour
on the highest level of the podium for Snowboard Cross.
When the journalist said, "Italy takes gold!"
that, that made me crazy.
The gold medallist, Moioli, from Italy.
We saw each other, we hugged each other,
and we started crying.
"Michela, you've won, Michela, you've got the gold medal!"
"And Mum..." From here... It still makes me cry.
Think about how much, how much time has passed,
how much has happened, how I've grown,
how I've changed, what I've been through.
First place, representing Italy...
You're so good, Michela...
Italia, Michela Moioli!
It was what I'd wanted since I was a little girl and it was...
I believed it, I knew it was true -
I was the new Olympic champion.
On the highest level of the podium,
gold medal for Italy!
(AGAINST ALL ODDS - MICHELA MOIOLI)