Norwegian earns his fourth gold

Ole Einar Bjoerndalen is part of the winning 30- kilometer biathlon relay.

©Associated Press
February 21, 2002

MIDWAY, Utah -- Ole Einar Bjoerndalen became only the third athlete to win four gold medals at a single Games when Norway won the men's 30-kilometer biathlon relay Wednesday.

Three-time defending Olympic champion Germany won the silver and France the bronze.

Only two others have won four gold medals, American speed-skater Eric Heiden and Russian speed-skater Lydia Skoblikova. Heiden won five in 1980. Skoblikova won four in 1964.

"This is very special," Bjoerndalen said.

He could have gone for a fifth gold in the 50K cross-country race Saturday but decided to skip the event.

The Norwegians -- Halvard Hanevold, Frode Andresen, Egil Gjelland and Bjoerndalen -- covered the Soldier Hollow course in 1 hour, 23 minutes, 42.3 seconds. Germany was 45.3 seconds behind.

As Bjoerndalen crossed the finish line, he screamed loudly while repeatedly pumping both poles into the air as Norwegian flags waved all around through the falling snow.

His teammates quickly greeted him with hugs. Gjelland then picked him up and put him on his shoulders for a victory ride.

It was Norway's first medal in the event, which made its debut in 1968. Russia won the first six gold medals. Germany then started its run in 1992.

This race was decided long before Bjoerndalen took to the course.

"My shooting wasn't perfect, but the other guys gave me a good lead," he said.

Andresen, skiing the second leg, made up a 17.7-second deficit to Russia, took the lead and turned it into a 20.9-second advantage when he touched Gjelland.

Gjelland missed just one of his 10 targets and turned it over to Bjoerndalen more than a minute in front of Russia, which finished fourth.

Bjoerndalen took over from there, winning easily despite needing three extra shots to hit his 10 targets and losing about 10 seconds when he fell on a downhill run.

Bjoerndalen won all four golds in dominating fashion. He won the 12.5K pursuit Saturday, the 10K sprint Feb.13 and the 20K race Feb.11. He also finished sixth in the 30K freestyle cross-country race Feb.9.

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