Federica Brignone said Monday she was pulling out of the rest of the World Cup season as her body had given enough after she returned from a leg break last April to sensationally win two gold medals at the recent Milano Cortina Winter Olympics.
    "I think I've asked a lot of my body over the past few months," 'Tiger of the Snows' Brignone said.
    "I tried to continue the season, but it's taking its toll on my body.
    "So I'm taking advantage of the season now coming to an end to give myself a break and then continue my rehabilitation as best I can, which has been stepped up recently to achieve the miracle we were able to pull off." Milan-born Brignone, 35, won gold in the giant slalom and super-G at the recent Games, becoming the first Italian woman Alpine skier to win two golds at the same Olympics less than a year after suffering her career-threatening leg break in training last April.
    Brignone, who became the oldest gold medalist of either sex in skiing history, is the all-time most successful Italian woman skier in the World Cup, and her 37 wins put her behind only the great Alberto Tomba, on 50, for both sexes.
    But she had never previously reached the top of an Olympic podium, having two Olympic silvers and a bronze in her trophy cabinet as well as two world championship golds and three silvers, two overall World Cup titles and five discipline World Cup titles.

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