Daily Updates — Live from Nagano

Jonny "360 Mute Grab" Moseley

Just hours after the event, Jonny Moseley's "360-Mute-Grab" is infamous. The movie-magic move was slick enough to earn Moseley top honors and to give the US its first medal of the Games.

"It was high risk for the semifinals, but I've been so confident and comfortable with my skiing that I felt like I could do anything," the US Olympic Committee (USOC) reported Moseley as saying.

The "jump" was a full circle in mid-air, during which Moseley grabbed his inside ski and then stuck a perfect landing. He knew right away that the jump, which he debuted and won (two in a row) with in the LaPlagne, France World Cup, was good enough for gold.

"At the top of the hill, I was trying to stay focused and get relaxed. I knew we could win with what we had. I had to block out the crowd and put down a run that I could be happy with. When I got to the finish, I knew I had won. It was an unbelieveable feeling," Moseley told the USOC.

"When I got to the finish I knew I had won...

It didn't hurt that the remainder of his bumpy run was executed flawlessly. The boy's got built in shocks.

The 22-year-old Moseley, of Tiburon, California, was the last of the 16 competitors to get his shot at gold. Usually an intimidating position, Moseley got to see what he had to beat and pulled out all the stops. He bared all in his qualifying run last weekend as well, and it was known then that if he could keep his form, he had the ultimate shot. Moseley apparently stayed focused for the three days between quals and finals by watching movies, including repeated viewings of the Adam Sandler flick Happy Gilmore.

Moseley had the best scores for jumps and turns and earned 26.93 points. Finland's Janne Lahtela won the silver with 26.00 points and another Finn, Sami Mustonen, took the bronze with 25.76.

Moseley was the '95 and '96 overall freestyle champion, but switched to moguls for the '97-'98 season.

In the women's moguls, Japan kept the gold at home with winner Tae Satoya. Tatjana Mittermayer of Germany was the silver medalist, and Norwegian Kari Traa took the bronze. American Donna Weinbrecht was just out of the podium in 4th place.

The moguls event is scored by judges, who count 50 percent for turns and 25 percent each for speed and the two "air" moves.

Men's Final Mogul Results

1 Jonny Moseley United States 26.93
2 Janne Lahtela Finland 26.00
3 Sami Mustonen Finland 25.76
4 Jean-Luc Brassard Canada 25.52      
5 Lauri Lassila Finland 25.43
6 Jesper Ronnback Sweden 25.32
7 Ryan Johnson Canada 25.25
8 Stephane Rochon Canada 25.01
9 Kurre Lansburgh Sweden 24.71
10 Alexander Wilson United States 24.68
11 Julien Regnier-Lafforgue France 24.64 
12 Fabrice Ougier France 24.22
13 Gota Miura Japan 23.06
14 Patrik Sundberg Sweden 23.00
15 Daigo Hara Japan 12.13
16 Thony Hemery France No Score     

Women's Final Mogul Results

1 Tae Satoya Japan 25.06
2 Tatjana Mittermayer Germany 24.62
3 Kari Traa Norway 24.09 
4 Donna Weinbrecht United States 24.02    
5 Anne-Marie Pelchat Canada  23.95
6 Minna Karhu Finland 23.83
7 Aiko Uemura Japan  23.79
8 Liz McIntyre United States 23.72
9 Sandra Schmitt Germany 23.67
10 Ann Battelle United States 23.65
11 Gabriele Rauscher Germany 23.59 
12 Marja Elfman Sweden 22.58
13 Anja Bolbjerg Denmark  22.09
14 Sara Kjellin Sweden 21.52
15 Ljudmila Dymchenko Russia 21.02
16 Tami Bradley  Canada 15.02