Long time coming: Goebel gives U.S. a bronze

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) _ From the moment he arrived in Salt Lake City, Tim Goebel has worn a smile. Now, he's wearing an Olympic bronze medal to go with it. <br><br>Goebel, the 2001 U.S. figure skating

Friday, February 15th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) _ From the moment he arrived in Salt Lake City, Tim Goebel has worn a smile. Now, he's wearing an Olympic bronze medal to go with it.

Goebel, the 2001 U.S. figure skating champion known as the ``Quad King,'' lived up to his reputation Thursday night. He landed three of them _ two salchows and a toe loop _ something no other skater has done in the games.

That was more than enough to make the 21-year-old Goebel the first American with an Olympic medal since Paul Wylie won silver in 1992.

``I'm just so excited to be sitting up here with a medal around my neck,'' Goebel said. ``It's great we've got an American man back on the podium. We've got so many great skaters and we sent such a strong team.

``Any of the three of us could have medaled, and I'm really happy it's me.''

Goebel was expected by many to lag behind Todd Eldredge and Michael Weiss at these games.

Eldredge returned from a two-year absence to finish third in the world championships last year, then won his sixth national title last month and seemed like the best American bet for a medal. Weiss, seventh in the 1998 Olympics and a two-time U.S. champion, had the experience.

Goebel said all along he was in Salt Lake City to enjoy the Olympic experience and he wasn't going to worry about a medal. He stayed in the athletes' village, moving to a hotel only on Monday night. He has become buddies with bobsledders and speedskaters.

``I think it made a huge difference,'' he said. ``There's so much external pressure at the Olympics. It's different from anything else.''

Not even the standing ovation as he was introduced for the free skate could rattle him.

``I think I prepared well for this event, and I think it showed,'' Goebel said.

Did it ever.

His routine to ``An American in Paris'' would have made Gene Kelly proud. During his footwork, he was downright whimsical, shrugging and smiling.

As usual, his jumps were clean, landed with ease and grace. The third quad, a salchow, came near the end of the program _ and it caused coach Frank Carroll to jump when Goebel landed it.

Goebel also is the first man to do a quad salchow in the Olympics; he did two in the free skate and one in the short program.

``I'm really proud of him,'' said Carroll, whose guidance has turned the jumper into a true skater. ``He made two Olympic records here. ... I was very excited about that and I think it's something he should be very proud of.''

The crowd was on its feet 15 seconds before his music finished. Putting extra flourish on his final spin, a big smile crossed his face. He pumped his hands, skated to center ice, blew kisses to the crowd, then headed off the ice _ right into a big hug from Carroll.

``I knew I had the potential to be up here,'' Goebel said. ``To actually make it a reality is a whole other thing.''

For Eldredge and Weiss, who also had the potential to win medals, the short program Tuesday night did them in. Both, however, recovered nicely.

Eldredge, ninth heading into the free skate, wound up sixth. Weiss repeated his seventh-place showing from Nagano.

``I have no regrets,'' said Eldredge, a six-time U.S. champion who was 10th in the 1992 Olympics and fourth four years ago.

Nor should he. The 30-year-old Eldredge didn't have the spectacular performance he sought before closing his career, but he was very good Thursday night.

``It is a great feeling,'' he said. ``I've been through a lot and trained for a long time. It's great to see all the hard work come together in a good performance.''

Weiss said he had at least 35 family members in the arena. His free skate featured the night's first clean three-jump combination, a quad toe-triple toe-double loop.

``Landing that at a competition like this,'' he said, ``that is a pretty cool feat.''