PRAGELATO, Italy — Giorgio di Centa turned the final race of the Turin Olympics into a big party in the Italian Alps.

He won the most grueling race in cross-country skiing — the 50km freestyle — on the final day of the Olympics, setting off a raucous celebration among his fellow Italians.

Soon after di Centa finished, Italian military parachutists swooped over the Pragelato stadium trailing streaks of smoke in red, white and green — the colors of the Italian flag. Thousands of Italian fans celebrated and di Centa needed an escort of eight carabinieri to move around.

"Today, I performed really well and I achieved a fantastic victory, especially because we are in Italy," said di Centa. "I had been thinking and planning the race for a long time."

With the victory, di Centa also did his share to increase the family collection of Olympic medals.

His older sister Manuela won seven in her long career and she ruled the 1994 Lillehammer Games, when she medaled in all cross-country events, winning two. Giorgio finished his home games with two golds — he also won the title with Italy's relay team.

"I don't keep track, what counts is that you leave your mark on the sport," he said.

The celebration continued down in the valley in Turin later in the evening, when di Centa and the silver and bronze medalists received their medals during the closing ceremony. They arrived in the Olympic Stadium to a sea of boisterous fans, many waving the Italian flag.

Manuela di Centa, a member of the International Olympic Committee, helped to bestow the medals.

Sunday's race stayed close until the finish sprint, with a large group skiers bunched together.

Di Centa had the most power and crossed the line in 2 hours, 6 minutes, 11.8 seconds, beating silver medalist Eugeni Dementiev of Russia by eight-tenths of a second. Austria's Mikhail Botwinov was another one-tenth behind to settle for bronze.

"Usually, someone overtakes me but with 300 meters to go I realized that my legs were still powerful and I decided to try," he said.

"But after so many second, third and fourth places, I only believed it when I crossed the line," he said.

Botwinov's bronze put a positive ending for the embattled Austrian cross-country skiers and biathletes who were subjects of a doping investigation by the Italian authorities and International Olympic Committee.

The Russian-born Botwinov was involved with banned Austrian coach Walter Mayer four years ago at the Salt Lake City Olympics, where Botwinov won silver in the 30km.

"This is my most beautiful medal after these turbulent days," the 38-year-old Botwinov said. "Our team deserved this medal. I thought I would finish back in the sprint, but now it's a pity I missed the silver by such a little margin."

He said he remained at home in Austria recovering from a cold when the raids took place last weekend.

Dementiev won the 30km pursuit race on the first day of competition, then had another strong day of skiing that fell just short of di Centa's brilliant push through the stadium.