Gisin toasts secret of her success-a late-night glass of wine

Michelle Gisin reflected on "the craziest roller coaster" having battled back from illness to win Beijing Olympic gold in the Alpine combined on Thursday.

The Swiss racer was laid low last summer by mononucleosis, a strength-sapping viral infection that left her fearing for her sporting career.

Now fully recovered, Gisin struck gold in the Alpine combined to claim her second medal of the Beijing Games after last week's super-G bronze-all achieved after a glass of wine and some late-night advice from teammates.

The 28-year-old said there was "no way" she could have imagined winning gold while she lay prone with the virus last August watching the Tokyo Summer Games. "No, not at all," she said.

"I could not have imagined winning because it was so intense emotionally, it was the craziest roller coaster," she said of her fight back to fitness.

Gisin was inspired by watching Italian swimmer Gregorio Paltrinieri, who also overcame the virus, win Olympic silver in the 800m freestyle in Tokyo.

Advice from Paltrinieri on his return from Tokyo, plus tips from teammate Camille Rast and German skier Alexander Schmid, who also both had mononucleosis, helped Gisin get back on the slopes.

"I have so many people to thank for helping me," she said.

Healthy again, Gisin puts her double medal haul down to a glass of wine the night before her bronze and gold.

She explained that after her teammates "wrote on my door' drink wine, ski fast', I drank a glass of wine with them again yesterday and look at that - it seems to work for me".

Advice from teammate Marco Odermatt in the early hours of Monday, while he was still celebrating winning giant slalom gold, gave her tips for the downhill section of Thursday's combined.

"I was woken up as he was partying in a room next to mine. I got up and went to congratulate him, me wrapped in a blanket, him still in his race suit," she said.

"We actually started discussing the downhill at 1 am-him drunk, me a little tired.

"He was totally right about one of the turns up there."

AFP