SALT LAKE CITY (voa) – Norwegian skiers dominated two events while a Dutch speed skater set a new world record Saturday at the Olympics. Also, China and Australia won their first ever Winter Olympic medals.
Norwegians Ole Einar Bjoerndalen and Kjetil Andre Aamodt have won five of Norway’s seven gold medals at these games. Bjoerndalen added to his golden harvest Saturday by taking the men’s biathlon 12.5 kilometer pursuit event at Soldier Hollow. The Norwegian becomes the first triple gold medallist of the Salt Lake City Games.
In the women’s 10-kilometer biathlon pursuit race, Russian Olga Pyleva overcame an eighth-place start with accurate shooting to win the gold medal. Silver went to Kati Wilhelm of Germany and bronze to Irina Nikoultchina of Bulgaria.
At Snowbasin, Aamodt captured the men’s super giant slalom event to win his second gold of the games. “Well I came into this competition with one gold in my pocket. I think that gave me a lot of confidence,” he said. “I was the favorite in the combined and that helped me to stay relaxed and I thought everything that is coming now is just a bonus.”
At the Utah Olympic Oval, Dutch speed skater Gerhard van Velde set a new world record of one-minute 7.18 seconds in the men’s 1000 meters race. The new mark gave him the gold medal while countryman Jan Bos won the silver and American Joey Cheek took the bronze. All three skaters finished faster that the previous world record.
In short track speed skating, a crash decided the results of the men’s 1000 meters race with favorite Apolo Anton Ohno of the United States crashing in a pileup in the final turn. Steven Bradbury won for Australia’s first ever Winter Olympics gold medal. “I don’t exactly know what happened or how it happened,” he said. “I just saw them all on the ice and I was like, hang on, this can’t be right. I think I won.”
In the women’s 500 meters short track final, Yang Yang-A of China won her country’s first ever Winter Olympics gold with world record holder Evegenia Radanova of Bulgaria taking the silver. The bronze went to China’s Wang Chunlu.
