Norwegian Becomes Third Olympian to Win Four Golds at Single Games

Just a short distance from his home in the Norwegian countryside, Ole Einar Bjoerndalen spotted a strip of snow. It was exactly what he had been searching for on this winter day.

Bjoerndalen, then 13, ran back to the family farm, jumped on his father’s tractor and returned to the only bit of snow hidden from the sun during an unusually warm stretch of the season. He carved two perfectly even tracks into the 200-meter patch, making himself a cross-country course.

He desperately wanted to ski. So he did. He traveled back and forth, getting to one end and turning around to head the other way. He never tired, skiing all day and into the pitch-black night.

Passionate. Persistent. Precise. This is Ole Einar Bjoerndalen.

Bjoerndalen became only the third Olympian to win four gold medals at a single Games when Norway won the men’s 30-kilometer biathlon relay Wednesday.

“This is very special,” Bjoerndalen said.

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

Only two others have won four gold medals in one Winter Olympics: American speedskater Eric Heiden and Russian speedskater Lydia Skoblikova. Heiden won five at the 1980 Lake Placid Games; Skoblikova won four in 1964 at Innsbruck.

“The last gold was the most important because it was the whole team--something we did together,” Bjoerndalen said. “We were really working hard all year together.”

Bjoerndalen swept the biathlon events here, winning three individual races and then the team relay. He could have gone for a fifth gold in the 50-kilometer cross-country race Saturday, but he decided to skip the event.

“Of history, I don’t think so much,” he said.

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.

The young U.S. team of Jeremy Teela, Jay Hakkinen, Dan Campbell and Lawton Redman finished 15th in the 19-team field, almost seven minutes behind Norway.

As Bjoerndalen crossed the finish line, he screamed loudly while repeatedly pumping both poles into the air.

His teammates quickly greeted him with hugs, then Gjelland picked him up and put him on his shoulders for a victory ride--a tribute to the world’s finest biathlete.