For more than 10 minutes, Oriol Cardona and Ana Alonso didn't know where to hide. They were so exhausted they could barely speak after the demanding Olympic ski mountaineering relay final, in which they had finished third. But the competition judges had penalized one of Alonso's ski changes, a penalty that, in theory, deducted three seconds from their time. If that was the case, they would win the bronze. But there was no official confirmation of a possible appeal from the Americans, who had finished fourth. Or the possibility that the penalty would be for more seconds and leave them off the podium. "Three seconds, it says three seconds!" Alonso shouted when she saw the confirmation on the scoreboard that they had won the bronze. And Oriol Cardona began to cry with emotion. He had made an incredible effort to win his second Olympic medal in three days.