Edged at the Finnish

Slovenia’s Robert Kranjec had the longest leap Monday in Olympic team ski jumping at Utah Olympic Park.

But Germany’s Martin Schmitt had the biggest one.

Schmitt, on the second-last jump of the day, soared 123.5 meters off the 120-meter slide--the skiers call it the big hill--earning 121.3 points and giving Germany the gold medal--by a tenth of a point, the closest margin in Olympic history.

Finland finished second, by that tenth of a point, even though the final Finnish jumper, Janne Ahonen, had sprung 125.5 meters just before Schmitt jumped.

“We barely made it,” Schmitt said. “I heard the distance of Ahonen and I knew I had to do my best .... It was so close. I was too late on my takeoff, but I made it. Tonight will be the biggest party Salt Lake has ever seen.”

In team jumping, each country has four jumpers, and each jumper gets two jumps. Points are awarded for distance--or subtracted, if the jumper lands short of the target distance--and style, which involves both flight and landing. Each jumper’s points are added together, then combined with his teammates’.

Germany, thanks to Schmitt’s clutch jump, finished with 974.1 points, Finland with 974.

Slovenia, surprisingly, beat out traditional jumping power Austria and defending Olympic champion Japan for the bronze, the first Olympic ski jumping medal in the country’s history. With Kranjec soaring 133 meters in the first round--longest jump of the day--the Slovenians totaled 946.3 points, to 926.8 for Austria and 926 for Japan.

“My first jump was very good,” Kranjec said. “We had [winning a medal] a little bit in mind.”

So did Germany, but even after Schmitt had jumped, no one was sure for half a minute what color it would be. Hunched over his skis in the outrun, Schmitt covered his eyes, then sneaked a peek at the scoreboard. He leaped into the air when he saw his numbers, then was engulfed by teammates Sven Hannawald, Stephan Hocke and Michaeal Uhrmann, and the foursome rolled around in the snow.

Schmitt’s first jump, 131.5 meters, had put Germany ahead in the first round, but Finland’s first three jumpers out-jumped Germany’s first three in the second round and it all came down to Ahonen and Schmitt.

Ahonen did all that he could; Schmitt all that he needed.

“I’m very happy about the medal but the way it happened was not so nice,” Ahonen said. “I did my best. Germany was exactly .10 points better.”

In the previous closest finish, Finland beat Austria by 1.5 points for the gold medal in the Albertville Games in 1992.

Simon Ammann of Switzerland started the day with an opportunity to win his third gold medal of the Games, having won the 90- and 120-meter individual events. He jumped well enough, sailing 128.5 meters on his first jump, 130 on his second, but got little support from his teammates and the Swiss finished seventh.

The U.S. was 11th in the 13-team competition, with only anchor Alan Alborn matching the target distance. He had jumps of 120.5 and 120 meters.

“They were better than in the past, so that’s good,” he said. “Finishing 11th is better than I expected.”

Alborn, who had announced after the individual jumping that he’d had enough and would quit jumping after this season, apparently is having second thoughts.

“There’s a lot of determining factors but nothing’s for sure,” he said when asked again about his proposed retirement.