Italy's new ski sensation Giorgio Rocca modestly waves away comparisons with the great Alberto Tomba. Speaking after winning at this Swiss resort to make it
four World Cup slaloms in a row, Rocca said: "Me like Alberto? No, I'm just myself."
"I'm flattered by the comparison but for now all I'm thinking about is next month's Olympics in Turin."
"I hear from Alberto a lot and he's given me some great advice, but I know I'll never make the same impact he did."
At 30, Rocca has come late to stardom, honing his skills year by year to win ten times in the last three seasons.
His four-in-a-row feat is second only to Tomba's seven straight wins set in 1995.
But the two are very different.
Rocca has had to work very hard to achieve stardom. By contrast, Tomba's innate ability had enabled him to win two Olympic golds by the age of 21. Rocca only recently found a sponsor. Tomba was scarcely out of his teens when he had the skiing world's biggest firms climbing over each other to pin their names on his chest.
Rocca is a family man, Tomba an unrepentant bachelor whose playboy lifestyle captured front pages throughout his glittering career under the nickname La Bomba (The Bomb). Many people outside the skiing world haven't heard of Rocca. Tomba was a household name throughout the world.
The Sanremo Song Festival, Italy's premier showbiz event of the year, was once interrupted to give viewers a chance to see Tomba ski. Rocca's wins receive coverage at the tail-end of news programmes.
But some think Rocca has the potential to become a media star in his own right.
"He isn't a Tomba yet but he can become one," according to Alberto Acciari, a sports marketing lecturer at Milan's Cattolica University.
"It's too early to say what media impact he may have but if he wins something big everyone will stand and pay attention," Acciari said Monday.
"One thing is sure for now. Giorgio is a big boost for Italian skiing ahead of the Olympics."
One of the keys to Rocca's success, he says, is his use of a hypnotist.
"It really helped me, enabling me to cut out the mistakes that were primarily due to nervousness," he says.
He has finally shrugged off the derisory tag "Rocca non c'imbrocca" (Rocca can't get it right), slapped on him because of his early-career habit of making a great first run and messing things up on the second.
Unlike in his previous wins this season, where he came from behind with a barnstorming second run, Rocca dominated both runs at Adelboden, showing he has found even more confidence in his abilities.
Rocca's great run of form clearly puts him among thefavourites for next month's Winter Games on the slopes around Turin.
Turin and its surrounding mountains play host to the Winter Olympics from February 10 to February 26 2006.
