Alpine Skiing at the 1972 Sapporo Winter Games:

The two favorites were Frenchman Jean-Noël Augert, 1970 World Champion, and World Cup slalom leader in 1970-72, and Italian Gustavo Thoeni, slightly better in the giant slalom, but considered the best technical skier in the world. Augert was second after the first run with 55.77, while Thoeni struggled into eighth place with 56.69, but both trailed the surprising Spaniard, Francisco Fernández Ochoa. Fernández Ochoa had no significant international record, his best previous place in a World Cup being sixth. He was not expected to hold the lead thru two runs, with Augert closely behind him. But on the second run, Augert skied poorly, placing only 10th, and eventually dropping to fifth overall. Thoeni came back, posting the fastest time in run two, but it was only enough to get him the silver medal. In one of the great upsets of the Winter Olympics, Fernández Ochoa held on, trailing only Gustavo Thoeni in run two, and won a shocking gold medal. The bronze medal went to Thoeni’s cousin, Rolando Thoeni.