Speedskating

Italian speedskater Enrico Fabris (picture) urged calm after winning a gold medal at the 1,500 metres at the Turin Olympics and becoming the only Italian male athlete to ever have won three medals at one Games.

As congratulations poured in from all over the country, including Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, Fabris tried to keep his feet firmly on the ground.

"I am not a hero, I want to live the life I lived before," he said.

After having won gold in the team pursuit and bronze in the 5,000 earlier in the Games, he surpasses skier Alberto Tomba and bobsledder Eugenio Monti who both won two medals in one Olympics.

Seconds after winning gold on Tuesday, Fabris, was given a telephone.

"It was Berlusconi," a beaming Fabris told reporters afterwards. "He told me I am a young boy and that the best is yet to come. He said 'Enrico, you are part of Italian sports history now'."