'Mother' Montillet wins downhill gold

Carole Montillet, the "mother" of France's ski team since the death of Regine Cavagnoud in October, paid the perfect tribute to her friend by winning the downhill at the Winter Olympics on Tuesday.

The 28-year-old had won only one super-G in a decade on the circuit but she threw caution to the winds and "raced for Regine" down the Wildflower piste.

On the fourth day of the 17-day Games, the first major controversy of the Games forced the governing body of figure skating to launch an inquiry into a controversial Russian victory in the pairs.

Judges gave Yelena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze the gold but spectators in the Olympic Ice Centre on Monday - and practically every commentator - believed the Canadian pair of Jamie Sale and David Pelletier had done enough to win.

Estonia won their first medals in the Winter Olympics in the 15-km classical cross-country race and Finn Janne Lahtela stopped an American takeover of the younger Olympic disciplines by winning the men's freestyle moguls.

But the host country won gold in the men's 500 metres speed skating when Casey FitzRandolph benefited from the absence of his Canadian friend Jeremy Wotherspoon, who slipped after just a few strides of Monday's opening run, to win.

SHOCK VICTORY

Montillet's shock victory - the first by a Frenchwoman in the Olympic downhill - provided one of the most heart-warming stories of the Games.

Starting early, she was just too fast for the Austrian favourites that followed her. Italy's Isolde Kostner, a bronze medallist in 1994, picked up the silver with Austria's Renate Goetschl forced to settle for bronze.

Cavagnoud, the super-G world champion, was killed in a training accident and Montillet had played "maman" (mummy) to her younger team mates in their grief.

"Nobody expected it (victory), not even myself," she said. "I skied with my heart.

"I was thinking about her a lot. I am sure that from where she is she will feel proud of me."

"This is great for the girls after all they've been through, especially for Carole, who was magnificent," French ski team director Gerard Rougier said.

American Picabo Street, the former world champion making her last Olympic appearance, finished 16th before an excited home crowd and then announced her retirement.

"I am officially done with all ski racing, competitions, everything," the American told a news conference.

SKATING CONTROVERSY

Figure skating has provided controversy at many Winter Games and once again the judges were in the dock after Monday's pairs competition when the Canadian pair seemed clearly to outperform their Russian rivals.

After watching Sale, his sweetheart on and off the ice, break down in tears at the medals ceremony, Pelletier said he was so disillusioned with the sport he might retire and the top Canadian official at the Games insisted the judges were wrong.

Faced with a barrage of criticism - many Canadian newspapers claimed their skaters had been robbed - the International Skating Union ordered an inquiry.

"Following the reaction of the public and the media to the results of the pairs event at the Salt Lake Ice Center last night, and to respect public opinion, the ISU is doing an internal assessment to monitor if the ISU rules and procedures have been respected," it said in a statement.

In the men's moguls, Lahtela, the silver medallist at the 1998 Nagano Games, produced two quadruple jumps and the fastest time to beat teenager Travis Mayer of the United States into second place.

The U.S. swept the three medals at the men's halfpipe on Monday. They also won gold in the women's halfpipe and silver in the women's moguls.

Estonian teams took part in three Winter Olympics before their country was annexed into the Soviet Union in 1940 and they have been at three Games since independence in 1991 -- all without a single medal success until today.

"It makes me very proud," said winner Andru Veerpalu, who won Estonia's first world championship gold in the 30 km classical last year in Lahti.

"This is a great, great success for Estonia." Compatriot Jaak Mae took the bronze.