Their place in history

Ole Einar Bjoerndalen wins his third biathlon gold medal of the Games by crushing the 12.5-K pursuit field.

©Associated Press
February 17, 2002

MIDWAY, Utah -- Three biathlon events, three dominant performances, three gold medals.

In a sport that combines the rigor and intensity of cross-country skiing with the precision and calm of marksmanship, no one has been better than Ole Einar Bjoerndalen.

The Norwegian became the first biathlete to win three gold medals in the Winter Games as he dominated the men's 12.5-kilometer pursuit Saturday despite two shooting mistakes.

France's Raphael Poiree won the silver and Germany's Ricco Gross the bronze.

"Throughout the race, I wasn't really worried that the others would catch up with me," Bjoerndalen said. "But I never thought I would get three gold medals before I came here. For me, this is really amazing."

The Americans had a strong showing with Jay Hakkinen starting 26th and finishing 13th, the best showing for an American in any individual biathlon event. Jeremy Teela was 23rd and Lawton Redman 52nd. The previous U.S. best had been 14th, accomplished four times.

Bjoerndalen began the event 29 seconds ahead of Germany's Sven Fischer based on results from Wednesday's 10-kilometer sprint.

It was a sizable lead but one that could have disappeared with a few missed shots. And it almost did as Bjoerndalen missed his first shot and had to ski a penalty loop.

But the three-time Olympian made up the lost seconds on the Soldier Hollow course and cruised -- even with another late miss. He made 18 of 20 shots.

He was so far ahead that he stopped pushing with a few meters to go, pumped his poles twice in the air, coasted across the finish and still won by 43 seconds, finishing in 32 minutes, 34.6 seconds.

He won the 20-kilometer individual race Monday by more than 36 seconds and the 10-kilometer event going away two days later.

"I just wanted to make three good races," said Bjoerndalen, who also finished sixth in the 30-kilometer cross-country race. "To win three gold medals is hard for me because 10 to 15 people have a chance to win every race."

Bjoerndalen's latest medal gives him five for his career. He won the 10-kilometer sprint and finished second in the 4x7.5-kilometer relay at Nagano.

He could add more. He has one more biathlon event -- the 4x7.5-kilometer relay Wednesday -- and could race in two more cross-country events, the 50-kilometer classical race and 4x10-kilometer relay.

"It's really fun," he said. "I'm in perfect shape right now, and I'm shooting fast and clean -- sometimes clean."