Tomba Is a $300 Loser in Giant Traffic Slalom

Alberto Tomba, the flamboyant “La Bomba” of Olympic skiing, may want to stick to weaving through slalom gates.

The Olympic gold medalist and Italian folk hero paid a $300 bond after police stopped him for weaving through traffic in the Florida Keys as he raced toward Miami International Airport.

“He was a very nice guy,” Sgt. Lee Pinder of the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department said Friday. “He even gave the (officer who stopped him) a card with his picture on it. We figured out he was late for the airport.”

The sheriff’s department said the skier was weaving through traffic in his rental car on U.S. Highway 1 near Plantation Key when stopped by police on Wednesday. He was ticketed for reckless driving.

Tomba was headed north at 3:35 p.m. when he sped past Deputy Larry Kelley, who watched him pass about 10 cars using the middle turn lane intended for drivers turning left, Capt. Joe Leiter told The Key West Citizen for Friday editions. Kelley radioed ahead to other officers, who stopped Tomba.

“He initially tried to tell the deputy that he was a police officer and showed a picture of himself in an Italian police uniform,” Leiter said. “He then admitted it was an honorary title.”

Tomba, who has a reputation as a playboy, told police he was late for a flight leaving Miami. He immediately posted his bond at the Plantation Key jail.

“And 20 minutes later he was gone,” Pinder said, noting Tomba may not come back for subsequent court dates. “He’s probably not going to come all the way back here for the $300 bond.”

Leiter said the deputy could have let Tomba go with only a ticket but chose to take him into the sheriff’s office because of the seriousness of the offense and because foreign visitors often don’t return for trial.

Tomba won the gold medal in the giant slalom and silver in the slalom in 1992 at Albertville, France. In 1988, he won gold in both slalom events at Calgary.