IT'S SUDDENLY WARM IN THIS SHADOW: DAWSON IS LATE BLOOM-ER 26-YEAR-OLD FROM COLORADO TAKES BRONZE IN MOGULS.

Byline: Steve Dilbeck Staff Writer

SAUZE D'OULX, Italy - Today Jeremy Bloom leaves these mountains to pursue a career as a professional football player. Toby Dawson leaves to pick up an Olympic medal.

Bloom, the former World Cup moguls champion, failed to medal at Wednesday's Olympic final, finishing sixth, and now will prepare for the NFL combine.

``As soon as I get out of this (ski) gear, I'm changing gears,'' Bloom said.

Dawson, abandoned at a South Korean police station when he was about 3 years old and adopted by a pair of Colorado ski instructors, has spent most of his career happily overshadowed by Bloom.

But Dawson, 26, nailed his second run Wednesday to earn the Turin Winter Games bronze medal.

``It definitely wasn't my career run,'' Dawson said. ``I knew I had to have a solid performance for a medal, but I wasn't quite able to do what I wanted.''

A smug Dale Begg-Smith, Australian by way of Canada, captured the gold, and Finland's Mikko Ronkainen took the silver.

Bloom was the overall World Cup moguls champion in 2004-05, but had struggled somewhat this season. He will enter the NFL combine next week in Indianapolis in an attempt to create interest as a wide receiver.

This might well have been his moguls swan song. It was hoped he'd go out a medal winner, but Bloom struggled somewhat on the landing of his second jump, and at this level, that was all it took to keep him from the podium.

``I made a small mistake, but my main goal was to come here and enjoy the Olympics,'' Bloom said. ``I accomplished that.''

Bloom said his Olympics effort was not distracted knowing he would have to show off his football skills next week.

``I had great focus,'' he said. ``I turned off my cell phone. Didn't read my e-mail. I was ready to go.

``This was a small disappointment. I skied really well and that was my goal.''

He didn't ski as well as Dawson, currently No. 4 in the World Cup rankings. Naturally shy, he was very happy to ski in a sport dominated in the U.S. public by photogenic Bloom.

But now Bloom's skiing career might be over, and Dawson is the one with the Olympic medal.

``It was nice for me to be overshadowed,'' he said. ``I kind of liked being in Jeremy's shadow.

``Next year will be different. There will definitely be a big change with Jeremy gone.''

There could be an additional huge change for Dawson. For most of his life he showed little interest in his Korean roots, wanting badly to fit in as an American.

But now comfortable as an American, he recently has shown new interest in his Korean heritage, beginning to learn the language and making overtures to discover his birth parents.

He knows that whoever they are, they might have been watching him Wednesday.

``I've struggled with that a little bit this year,'' Dawson said. ``I've had people claiming to be my birth parents. I'm taking this very slowly and seeing what happens.''

What will happen today is, he will leave the Alps for Turin to participate in a medal ceremony.

Steve Dilbeck, [phone]

stephen.dilbeck(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Toby Dawson reacts after completing the moguls, in which he took third to upstage U.S. teammate Jeremy Bloom.

Lionel Cironneau/Associated Press

(2 -- color) Dale Begg-Smith of Australia celebrates after his gold-medal clinching run in Wednesday's moguls in Sauze d'Oulx, Italy.

(3 -- color) Toby Dawson gets some air during his bronze-medal winning performance.

Michael Probst/Associated Press