Bjoerndalen Triples Fun With Olympic Feat

Three biathlon events, three dominant performances and three gold medals for Ole Einar Bjoerndalen.

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 Bjoerndalen at the Olympics.

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 at Midway, Utah, despite two shooting mistakes.

Raphael Poiree of France won the silver and Ricco Gross of Germany took 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 was 52nd. The previous U.S. best had been 14th, accomplished four times.

“To see that curse broken is a huge achievement,” Hakkinen said. “The only thing better would have been a medal.”

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

It was a sizable lead that easily 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 that cost him valuable time.

But the three-time Olympian made up the lost seconds on the Soldier Hollow course and cruised to victory, 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.

Bjoerndalen covered the course in 32 minutes 34.6 seconds. Poiree, always strong in pursuit events, started more than a minute behind and rallied for second with one penalty. It was his first medal.

Poiree’s finish makes him part of the first married couple to win medals while competing for different countries. His wife, Liv Grete Poiree of Norway, won the silver in the 15K individual race Monday.

Gross, a four-time Olympian, picked up his sixth medal after finishing fourth twice at these games and getting edged in both races.

“I had nothing to lose,” said Gross, who misfired twice during his last of four stops at the shooting range.

That cost him any shot at catching Bjoerndalen, who has controlled all three men’s biathlon events at Soldier Hollow.

He blew away the field in the 20K individual race Monday, winning by more than 36 seconds, and won the 10K event going away two days later.

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With top biathletes Magdalena Forsberg and Liv Grete Poiree missing the podium for the first time this season, Russian Olga Pyleva won the gold medal in the women’s 10K pursuit.

Pyleva missed only one of 20 shots at the Soldier Hollow range and completed the course in 31 minutes 7.7 seconds to win her first gold.

While discussing the race in an interview room, Pyleva’s cell phone rang. It was her mother calling from Siberia, where it was the middle of the night. The call brought Pyleva to tears.

“She was crying also, on the other side of the line,” Pyleva said.

Kati Wilhelm of Germany missed four times but made a strong comeback to take the silver. Irina Nikoultchina of Bulgaria won the bronze.