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A golden day
Biathlete Bjoerndalen of Norway grabs 3rd win to dominate 2002 games
By Donna Kemp Spangler Deseret News Olympic specialist
SOLDIER HOLLOW — Norway's Ole Einar Bjoerndalen on Saturday did something no other biathlete has ever done: win a third gold medal at one Olympic Games.
"To win three Olympic races is amazing," Bjoerndalen said after winning the 12-kilometer pursuit race in 32 minutes, 34.6 seconds, missing only two targets in a race that was never close.
With three gold medals, Bjoerndalen is making his mark as the most dominant athlete of the 2002 Winter Games. He also has gold in the 20-kilometer and 10-kilometer sprint races. He also raced in the men's 30-kilometer cross country, finishing a respectable sixth. Two-time Olympian Raphael Poiree of France won his first Olympic medal Saturday, taking the silver with a time of 1:06 behind Bjoerndalen.
In the women's 10-kilometer pursuit, Olga Pyleva of Russia won the gold medal, coming from behind with a lap to go to narrowly beat silver medalist Kati Wilhelm of Germany and Irina Nikoultchina of Bulgaria, who took home the bronze in her first Olympic biathlon.
"It is magnificent," silver medalist Poiree said. "This is a medal that means a lot to me."
Former Olympic champion Ricco Gross of Germany won the bronze, winning his first medal of the 2002 Winter Games. Gross has won three gold medals and two silvers in previous Olympics.
"This is wonderful after two races being here and winning a medal," Gross said. "It's almost hard to believe that I received a medal in these Olympics."
Bjoerndalen hopes to make the Norwegian cross country relay team, which could give him a shot at a fourth gold medal. Bjoerndalen hopes to be the first athlete to win Olympic medals in two different sports.
In biathlon, he has made it clear that everyone else is racing for silver.
Only Johann Muehlegg of Spain, with two gold medals in cross country, has come close to Bjoerndalen's dominance.
Bjoerndalen credits his success to a mental trainer who has helped him improve his shooting.
"I am much better in my head," he said.
In the pursuit race, a new Olympic event, competitors start the race staggered according to their finishes in Wednesday's sprint race. Competitors shoot four rounds of five shots each — twice prone and twice standing. The first racer across the finish line wins.
Pyleva started just over a minute behind Wilhelm, the gold medalist in Wednesday sprint, but the Russian took the lead in the last 2 kilometers, edging Wilhelm by 5.3 seconds. Nikoultchina finished 8.1 seconds behind in the crowd-pleasing race.
"Today was my day," Nikoultchina said.
Through three laps, Sweden's Magdalena Forsberg and Norway's Liv Grete Poiree seemed poised to collect the gold and silver. But both missed targets on the final shooting round, opening the door Pyleva and the other medalists to overtake them.
"I realized I was very close to possibly winning the race," Pyleva said.
And, she added, "In biathlon nothing is fair. I'm just lucky today. Everything came together."
American men performed very well with Alaskan Jay Hakkinen having the third fastest time of the day. Based on his finish in Wednesday's sprint race, Hakkinen started the race almost 2 minutes behind Bjoerndalen. Still, he made history with a 13th place finish, the best American finish ever, something aided by hitting 19 out of 20 targets.
"I was in shock," he said. "Americans have been stuck no better than 14th place since the beginning of biathlon. Getting past that mental block was very important. It was great to break that. It's a really important step for U.S. biathlon, but I'm still really set on getting medals."
Fellow Alaskan Jeremy Teela finished 23rd, also a victory for the Americans in a sport dominated by northern Europeans.
American women dropped further into the pack. Kara Salmela, who started three minutes behind Wilhelm, was the top American female biathlete, finishing 45th, and Andrea Nahrgang finished close behind at 47th.
The final women's biathlon event will be a team relay event Monday at 11:30. The men's relay is scheduled for Wednesday at 11 a.m.
E-mail: donna@desnews.com
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February 17, 2002
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