Bode Miller Finally Wins Elusive Olympic Gold

Maybe the hype was just four years too early.

American alpine skier Bode Miller, who infamously seemed more concerned with partying than winning medals in the 2006 Winter Games (he’d leave Turin without a single piece of hardware), has now won three medals in Vancouver, including his first ever gold.

Miller’s gold came on Sunday, in Men’s Super Combined, finally fulfilling the lofty expectations that had been placed on him after winning a pair of silvers in 2002. The win gives him three medals at the Vancouver Games, more than any other athlete thus far, including a bronze in Downhill and silver in Super-G.

Miller was in seventh place after the morning’s downhill run, but then vaulted himself atop the medal stand with one of the fastest slalom runs. He beat Croatia’s Ivica Kostelic by 0.33 seconds for the gold. Switzerland’s Silvan Zurbriggen won the bronze.

Bode’s total of five career Olympics medals is two more than any other U.S. skier.

Fellow American Ted Ligety, who won gold in Combined in 2006 in Turin, finished fifth on Sunday, 0.50 seconds out of medal contention.

With two more events still to go -- Giant Slalom and Slalom -- Bode has a legitimate chance to leave Vancouver with a total of five medals. After Turin, Bode said, he “got to party and socialize at an Olympic level.” Now he looks like he has decided to ski at an Olympic level, too.

More: SB Nation’s full coverage of the Winter Olympics and the 2010 Winter Olympics Medal Count Tracker.