Bahrke Is All Silver

The color of the glitter decorating Shannon Bahrke’s cheeks and eyelashes matched the medal she took home from the freestyle moguls Saturday. Silver.

Still, Bahrke, 21, of Tahoe City, Calif., didn’t care much about color coordinating. She was thrilled to grab any medal.

“I can’t believe I’m on the podium,” Bahrke, the first American medal winner at the 2002 Games, gushed. “To me, it adds something special after Sept. 11. I think it makes everyone proud.”

It was even more special because two years ago she contracted a life-threatening staph infection and doctors told her she might never regain top form.

The gold medal went to Norway’s Kari Traa, 28, who hopes the win creates as much of a furor at home as the recent controversial magazine pictures she posed for.

Traa, who came in as winner in five of six World Cups this winter, recorded the best score in morning qualifying when the field was chopped to 16. Ann Battelle, 34, of Steamboat Springs, Colo., a four-time Olympian, was sitting second, with Hannah Hardaway, 23, of Moultonborough, N.H., third, and Bahrke fifth.

Competitors zigzag down a steep hill covered by snow bumps called moguls, and make complicated jumps off ramps in the middle of the run. The biggest tricks, spinning a full revolution, leaping in the air in a snow angel position, garner the biggest applause. Racers are scored on three elements with a maximum point total of 30. Only 25% of the score is based on time. Jumps count for 25% and turns count for 50%.

The temperature was 19 degrees and the wind mild, but the sun was so strong it felt warmer. Bahrke, rooted on by a contingent of family and friends from California, provoked huge roars from the 13,685 fans when she completed her run and was awarded a score of 25.06.

Bahrke arrived at the Games as the only athlete to beat Traa in a World Cup this season, and also won the U.S. Gold Cup on New Year’s Eve here. Her run was spectacular, but Traa bested her with a score of 25.94. Tae Satoya, 25, of Japan, the 1998 gold medallist in Nagano, took bronze in 24.85.

Satoya said her father, who was a key helper in her racing, died since the last Olympics.

“This time I said to my father I would do my best and I did my best,” she said.

She jumped past Hardaway, fifth, and Battelle, seventh, in the final.

Traa became a world-class threat in 1999 when she swore off chocolate for three months. Between September and Christmas she lost 20 pounds. She nibbles sweets sometimes now, but isn’t going back to her chunkier days.

Traa, who has blonde hair and blue eyes, has arresting looks. She recently posed for a Norwegian sports magazine and the sauciness of her looks in scanty attire got more attention than she expected.

“They wanted to make cool pictures,” Traa said. “I did it for my sport.”

Bahrke was a giddy medalist, and said the cheers she heard over the last 10 bumps will stay with her.

“It’s the most magnificent feeling in the world,” she said. “It’s one of the most amazing things ever.”