Germany may have won the team ski jumping competition by the closest margin in the Olympic history of the sport, but it was Swiss wonder kid Simon Ammann that shone brightest on the jumping hills at Utah Olympic Park becoming the first double-gold medalist of the Salt Lake Games.

Ammann surprised favorites Adam Malysz (POL), the current World Cup leader, and 2001 Four-Hill Tournament champion Sven Hannawald (GER) to win the Individual K90 competition and Switzerland's first ski jumping medal since Walter Steiner won a silver medal at Sapporo in 1972.

Jumping with a newfound confidence and grin from ear-to-ear, the 20-year-old Ammann from Unterwasser then became one of only seven ski jumpers in Olympic history who have won two or more gold medals by winning the Individual K120 competition. Again Ammann overcame tough challenges from Malysz and Hannawald.

Hannawald had the opportunity to snatch the gold from Ammann with the last jump of the competition in Individual K120, but faltered by crashing on the landing to finish fourth. With Hannawald's mistake, Ammann won his second gold medal in four days and became the first ski jumper since Finland's Matti Nykanen at the 1988 Calgary Games to win both the K90 and K120 competitions in one Games.

Ammann's dominance in the individual competition was even more impressive considering the Harry Potter look-a-like was making a comeback to competition at the Salt Lake Games following a spectacular training crash in Willingen, Germany, in January 2002. The crash left him with a concussion and several cuts and contusions to his face - but obviously not with a bruised confidence.

Despite being beaten by the Swiss sensation Ammann, Poland's world number one Adam Malysz improved on his 51st and 52nd place performances at the 1998 Nagano Games in the K90 and K120 by winning bronze and silver in those events respectively.

Hannawald, one of the stars of the current season after becoming the first person to win at all four sites of the Four-Hill Tournament, will return to Germany with one individual silver medal for his efforts in the K90. Despite a disappointing fourth place in the K120, Hannawald got to stand on the gold medal podium after the German's won team gold on the large hill.

In the closest finish in the 14-year history of the K120 Team competition at the Olympic Winter Games, Germany beat Finland by one-tenth of a point with thanks to a successful last jump under intense pressure by German Martin Schmitt.

Germany finished with 974.1 points to Finland's 974.0 to give Germany it's first team gold since the 1994 Lillehammer Games. Lightly regarded Slovenia surprised traditional powerhouses Austria and Japan to finish third with 946.3 points with thanks to strong performances by Robert Krnajec and two-time World Cup champion Primoz Peterka.

An upset Austrian team will have to look towards the 2006 Torino Games to improve its overall ski jumping medal count after finishing these Games without a medal of any color -- the first time since 1988. Japan, despite bringing the identical team that won four golds at the 1998 Nagano Games, will also leave Salt Lake without any medals.

Ammann gave yet another golden performance in the team competition scoring the highest individual marks of all competitors but it was not enough to launch the Swiss team onto the podium -- they finished seventh.

--Graham Parks