Chris Klug

What do you do if you get kicked out of a neighborhood pickup game? Go start another one with another team. That's just about what veteran snowboarder Chris Klug did after he was dropped from the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Assn.'s program last year. He formed a team with four others. It's a do-it-yourself parallel giant slalom team. "I still wanted to continue," Klug said this week. "I had some unfinished business. It turned out to be a real blessing in disguise."

What do you do if you get kicked out of a neighborhood pickup game? Go start another one with another team. That's just about what veteran snowboarder Chris Klug did after he was dropped from the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Assn.'s program last year. He formed a team with four others. It's a do-it-yourself parallel giant slalom team. "I still wanted to continue," Klug said this week. "I had some unfinished business. It turned out to be a real blessing in disguise."

This is Chris Klug's life now. There is snowboarding most mornings, followed by a late lunch at places only the locals know about, like Johnny McGuire's, where Klug is partial to the "trucker," a concoction of turkey, bacon, cheddar, mayo and barbecue sauce stuffed in a helpless roll. There also is time to hang out with his buddies and his longtime girlfriend, with his family and her family. There is time to quietly muse about the gift of a second chance.

After U.S. snowboarding sensations Hannah Teter and Gretchen Bleiler had gone 1-2 this week in the Olympic women's halfpipe, Teter, amid the frenzy of cameras, notebooks, TV producers, autograph hounds, doping protocols, snapshot requests, American flags, TV morning shows and medal ceremonies, said, "I can't even comprehend the coolness factor of what we just achieved." Bleiler echoed the emotion: "It's pretty insane." Fortunately, she added, "Peter and his guys are so on it."

The Chris Klug story will be closely followed, as the 31-year-old snowboarder from Aspen, Colo., attempts to win a medal in men's parallel giant slalom at Park City. Needing a liver transplant to save his life, Klug received a new liver on July 28, 2000, and returned to competition a year later. He was sixth in the world giant slalom in 2001, the best U.S. finish. At Nagano in '98, he was second after his first run, but he fell to sixth after catching his arm in a gate.

It figured that it would be all but impossible for the U.S. snowboard slalom racers to meet or better the standard set by the American halfpipe riders, who earlier this week won four Olympic medals, two of them gold. And they didn't. In racing dominated by Europeans, only one American man, Chris Klug, and a sole American woman, Lisa Kosglow, advanced out of Thursday's preliminary rounds to today's parallel giant slalom finals.

In what has to rank as one of the greatest accomplishments in medical and sporting history, 29-year-old Chris Klug of Aspen, Colo., who 18 months ago underwent a liver transplant, on Friday won an Olympic medal in snowboard parallel giant slalom. It was bronze, not gold. But no matter. "Medically speaking," Martin S. Levine, a New Jersey physician and U.S. Olympic team doctor, said moments after Klug had flashed to bronze, "this is impossible."

After U.S. snowboarding sensations Hannah Teter and Gretchen Bleiler had gone 1-2 this week in the Olympic women's halfpipe, Teter, amid the frenzy of cameras, notebooks, TV producers, autograph hounds, doping protocols, snapshot requests, American flags, TV morning shows and medal ceremonies, said, "I can't even comprehend the coolness factor of what we just achieved." Bleiler echoed the emotion: "It's pretty insane." Fortunately, she added, "Peter and his guys are so on it."

No longer can there be doubt about where Joe DiMaggio has gone. Dude has pulled on some gloves, tugged at a warm hat, strapped his feet onto a snowboard and is now shredding on a powder-laced mountain. In a sign of the mainstreaming of snowboarding, which only a few years ago was a sport seemingly restricted to teenage lunatics who reveled in a buzz-off attitude, Chris Klug, 30, the U.S.

Glad simply to be alive, let alone at the pinnacle of his sport, liver transplant recipient Chris Klug put a whole new twist on the notion of an Olympic miracle. Using duct tape to bind together a broken boot buckle for his final race, Klug persevered and won the bronze medal Friday in parallel giant slalom snowboarding. Philipp Schoch of Switzerland, the second-slowest rider in qualifying Thursday, won the gold, and Sweden's Richard Richardsson took silver.

No longer can there be doubt about where Joe DiMaggio has gone. Dude has pulled on some gloves, tugged at a warm hat, strapped his feet onto a snowboard and is now shredding on a powder-laced mountain. In a sign of the mainstreaming of snowboarding, which only a few years ago was a sport seemingly restricted to teenage lunatics who reveled in a buzz-off attitude, Chris Klug, 30, the U.S.

Glad simply to be alive, let alone at the pinnacle of his sport, liver transplant recipient Chris Klug put a whole new twist on the notion of an Olympic miracle. Using duct tape to bind together a broken boot buckle for his final race, Klug persevered and won the bronze medal Friday in parallel giant slalom snowboarding. Philipp Schoch of Switzerland, the second-slowest rider in qualifying Thursday, won the gold, and Sweden's Richard Richardsson took silver.

In what has to rank as one of the greatest accomplishments in medical and sporting history, 29-year-old Chris Klug of Aspen, Colo., who 18 months ago underwent a liver transplant, on Friday won an Olympic medal in snowboard parallel giant slalom. It was bronze, not gold. But no matter. "Medically speaking," Martin S. Levine, a New Jersey physician and U.S. Olympic team doctor, said moments after Klug had flashed to bronze, "this is impossible."

The Chris Klug story will be closely followed, as the 31-year-old snowboarder from Aspen, Colo., attempts to win a medal in men's parallel giant slalom at Park City. Needing a liver transplant to save his life, Klug received a new liver on July 28, 2000, and returned to competition a year later. He was sixth in the world giant slalom in 2001, the best U.S. finish. At Nagano in '98, he was second after his first run, but he fell to sixth after catching his arm in a gate.

It figured that it would be all but impossible for the U.S. snowboard slalom racers to meet or better the standard set by the American halfpipe riders, who earlier this week won four Olympic medals, two of them gold. And they didn't. In racing dominated by Europeans, only one American man, Chris Klug, and a sole American woman, Lisa Kosglow, advanced out of Thursday's preliminary rounds to today's parallel giant slalom finals.

This is Chris Klug's life now. There is snowboarding most mornings, followed by a late lunch at places only the locals know about, like Johnny McGuire's, where Klug is partial to the "trucker," a concoction of turkey, bacon, cheddar, mayo and barbecue sauce stuffed in a helpless roll. There also is time to hang out with his buddies and his longtime girlfriend, with his family and her family. There is time to quietly muse about the gift of a second chance.

Luge doubles G Patric-Fritz Leitner; Alexander Resch, Germany S Chris Thorpe; Clay Ives, U.S. B Mark Grimmette; Brian Martin, U.S. * Men's parallel giant slalom snowboarding G Philipp Schoch, Switzerland S Richard Richardsson, Sweden B Chris Klug, U.S. * Women's parallel giant slalom snowboarding G Isabelle Blanc, France S Karine Ruby, France B Lidia Trettel, Italy * Women's 5k free pursuit cross-country skiing G Olga Danilova, Russia S Larissa Luzutina, Russia B Beckie Scott, Canada

Feb. 9 Freestyle skiing: Women's moguls: Shannon Bahrke, silver; speedskating: Men's 5,000: Derek Parra, silver. Feb. 10 Snowboard: Women's halfpipe: Kelly Clark, gold. Feb. 11 Snowboard: Men's halfpipe: Ross Powers, gold; Danny Kass, silver; Jarret Thomas, bronze. Feb. 12 Freestyle skiing: Men's moguls: Travis Mayer, silver; speedskating: Men's 500: Kip Carpenter, bronze. Feb. 13 Alpine skiing: Men's combined: Bode Miller, silver. Feb. 14 Figure skating: Men: Timothy Goebel, bronze. Feb.