Moguls, Men

Dale Begg-Smith had won three of the four World Cup events in the 2005-06 season and was favored. Begg-Smith was a native Canadian from Vancouver who was also an Internet entrepreneur. He had started adware and spamware companies, AdsCPM and CPM, as a teenager and had become quite wealthy by the time of the Torino Olympics. Training with the Canadian team, Begg-Smith was told his internet business was interfering with his skiing, and when he was only 15, he and his brother moved to Australia. They became Australian citizens in 2003 and Begg-Smith represented Australia in Torino. Begg-Smith came thru to win the gold medal, winning both the qualifying round, and the final, although his final run was relatively slow, but had no flaws and earned him the gold medal. The silver medal went to Finland’s Mikko Ronkainen, who only qualified in 13th place, although he had been World Champion in 2001 and 2003. His final run was the third fastest and featured a high degree of difficulty, but his turns and airs scores trailed Begg-Smith, costing him the gold medal. The bronze medal went to Korean-American Toby Dawson. Dawson was born Kim Bong-Seok. At age three he and his mother were at a market, when he became lost and was not reconnected with his parents. He was later adopted by a couple from Vail, Colorado, who were both ski instructors and learned to ski from them. In February 2007 he met his biological father after the man identified him from a photo from the 2006 Winter Olympics.