Kostelics ride the bumps to alpine stardom

It is a measure of how truly special Janica Kostelic was during 2002 that she was voted European sportswoman of the year ahead even of Britain's distance running queen Paula Radcliffe, who swept almost every other poll.

But then in Salt Lake City last February, Kostelic had put her name alongside the greatest skier of them all, Jean-Claude Killy, when she became the first person to win three Olympic gold medals at a Winter Games since the Frenchman in 1968.

Now, she and her older brother Ivica, who form the Croatian skiing team, are back to conquer more mountains at the world championships, which opened in St Moritz yesterday. Janica is the favourite to win gold medals in the slalom, giant slalom and the combined while Ivica is expected to follow her to the top of the podium in the men's slalom.

The pair's road from Croatia to world domination is a stirring tale of determination, pain and a battered Lada car they occasionally used to sleep in, although not the way Kostelic tells it it is not.

'I was nine when I started skiing,' said the pigtailed 21-year-old when asked to give her life story. 'And I was skiing and skiing and skiing and then I skied some more and I won a medal. It's kind of a really short story.'

The summary was about as comprehensive as a one paragraph history of western civilisation.

They overcame unrest during the bloody break-up of Yugoslavia. They slept in the family car and skipped meals in favour of buying ski lift tickets as they prepared to compete against the mighty and affluent Austrians and Swiss on the European junior circuit. When they did eat it was normally salami-and-pickle sandwiches.

The siblings shared everything on tour when they were growing up and now they often celebrate together. The days are long past when money was so tight that brother and sister took turns to sleep in their father Ante's trusty but well-worn Lada when they could not afford hotel rooms for all three and it was too cold to pitch their tent.

They have also shared horror stories, Janica suffering three operations on her left knee in a 12-month period after winning eight World Cup slaloms in a row. Ivica has also been under the surgeon's knife.

'It's a great thing, like finally this dream came true,' said Janica of their recent success. 'Everything is kind of like a family medal because everything was always in the family, since I was little I have trained with my father and my brother.'

Training often was difficult in Croatia, home to just two small ski resorts. Also, it only snows occasionally in their homeland. 'It's true we had no money,' said Ivica. 'But when you're a kid you don't really think about it, you're just doing it. It was a bit like camping. It's a lot better now.'

When Janica returned home from Salt Lake City, where she also won a silver medal, thousands of people jammed Zagreb's main square. People skipped work and schools cancelled classes as Croats rushed to embrace their skiing sensation. Prime Minister Ivica Racan greeted Kostelic at the airport and she was driven downtown in a convertible. But for Kostelic all the trappings of success mean little. 'Fame is not a big thing for me,' she said. 'I don't like to be famous. I just love what I'm doing, just skiing.'

If Ivica, 23, fails to win then he will surely point to the controversy which has been cascading over like him an avalanche since an ill-advised interview in a Croatian newspaper last month. There he said, when standing on top of a slope, he felt like a 'powerful, all-conquering, like a German soldier ready for battle in 1941'. As in previous interviews he has talked favourably of Adolf Hitler and said that fascism had some benefits, it has led to accusations that he is a Nazi. It is a charge he denies.

Now, citing Kostelic's interview, a group of Italian skiers, including Olympic champion Isolde Kostner, have set up a new initiative designed to bring attention to the problem of racism. They are to join forces with Lamine Gueye, a Swiss-educated Senegalese skier who competed in Salt Lake City, to build and promote a Senegalese team for the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin.

They plan to go to Senegal, pick a group of fishermen ('Because they live on canoes and have great balance,' said Gueye), familiarise them with the snow and choose four skiers to train for Turin.

The most ironic thing of all is that the story of how Kostelic and his sister overcame the odds to climb the highest mountain is perhaps the most inspiring one the Senegalese fisherman will ever hear.