How it unfolded
Croatia's Janica Kostelic trained across Europe out of a car with her father as her coach. At Salt Lake City she won gold in giant slalom, combined and slalom, and silver in super-G, collecting four medals at a single Olympics, the most in alpine skiing history. She had already undergone nine knee surgeries and was fighting a thyroid condition throughout the Games. The result, from a nation with almost no ski culture, federation funding or World Cup-suitable mountains, stunned the international ski world. She defended her combined title at Turin 2006, taking her Olympic gold total to four.
Why it still matters
This meet stands as the definitive proof that individual talent and dedication, without national funding or infrastructure, can reach the top of this sport. Kostelic's four medals at a single Games has never been matched, and her success became a reference point for later small-nation racers such as Slovakia's Petra Vlhova.