Ceccarelli would love to defend her Olympic gold medal in front of a partisan crowd at Sestriere today, but the task will be huge. Croatian star Janica Kostelic will be out for revenge: Ceccarelli was the only woman standing between her and four gold medals in 2002. And then there are Austrian stars Alexandra Meissnitzer and Michaela Dorfmeister, neck and neck near the top of the World Cup standings. If that isn't enough, Ceccarelli could be upstaged by rising stars from within her own borders: Lucia Recchia won the silver medal at last year's world championships in Bormio, and Nadia Fanchini finished fourth.

Jovanovic, 29, was supposed to make his Olympic debut in 2002, but a positive drug test just three weeks before the Games knocked him off Todd Hays's four-man team and cost him a silver medal. Jovanovic, who said his positive test for the steroid nandrolone came from a contaminated supplement, went home to Toms River, N.J., and worked out on the bobsled track he and his father had built. Hays called on Jovanovic again when his suspension ended and he and Hays will both compete in the two-man bobsled, which is contested today, and four-man.

A month after having mononucleosis diagnosed and a day after saying she felt awful, American Chris Witty won the gold medal and added a world record at her third Winter Olympics. Witty, now 30, will compete today in her fifth Olympics -- she made the cycling team in 2000 -- having overcome another difficulty, this one emotional: Witty revealed last year that she had been sexually abused as a child by a neighbor. She is now committed to helping children who are molested.