PARK CITY, Utah'A new definition of what is cool about the Winter Olympics was created on a snow-covered Utah mountain slope Monday by a trio of America youngsters who swept the gold, silver and bronze medals in the men's halfpipe competition Monday.
Through their gravity-defying acrobatics, the U.S. snowboarding team gave the United States its first Winter Games medal sweep in 46 years, doubled the U.S. medal total from three to six and vaulted their country nearly halfway toward its all-time Winter Games medal total (13) on just Day 4 of these Games.
Afterward, the three described their feat in typical snowboard-ese.
Ross Powers'at 23 a grizzled veteran of Olympic snowboarding'won the gold medal, improving on the bronze he took at Nagano in 1998, when snowboarding made its Olympic debut.
\To have the guys up here is just awesome!"" Powers said, flanked by silver medalist Danny Kass and bronze medal winner J.J. Thomas. ""I'm not dissing on any other countries, but to have the three of us do well today where it really matters is huge for all of us.'
Kass, 19, of Hamburg, N.J., declared his achievement ""downright radical.'
Thomas, of Golden, Colo., who edged Italy's Giacomo Krattner by one-tenth of a point to clinch bronze, said, ""Today is probably one of the funnest days of my life.' He is all of 20.
For the uninitiated, halfpipe is the wildly inventive discipline of snowboarding, a uniquely American sport that was granted Olympic status four years ago in an effort by the International Olympic Committee to revitalize interest in the Games among the young audience that's so coveted by TV broadcasters and advertisers.
Monday's medals sweep'the first by the United States in Winter Games competition since the 1956 men's figure skating competition in Cortina, Italy'is bound to accelerate the popularity of one of the country's fastest-growing sports.
