A Tribute to The Winter Olympics

A Tribute in Honor of:

The Winter Olympics Day 9

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Olympics-Short track-Medals-Chinese wins women's 500m gold

SALT LAKE CITY, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Medal winners in the women's short track speedskating 500 metres at the Winter Olympics on Saturday:

Gold - Yang Yang (A) (China)

Silver - Evgenia Radanova (Bulgaria)

Bronze - Wang Chunlu (China)

22:54 02-16-02

Olympics-Short track-Men's 1000 metres final results

SALT LAKE CITY, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Results of the Olympic short track speed skating men's 1000 metres final on Saturday:

1. Steven Bradbury (Australia) 1 minute 29.109 seconds

2. Apolo Anton Ohno (U.S.) 1:30.160

3. Mathieu Turcotte (Canada) 1:30.563

4. Ahn Hyun-Soo (South Korea) 1:32.519

Li Jiajun (China) DQ

22:47 02-16-02

Olympics-Ice hockey-Longevity king inspires Finland

SALT LAKE CITY, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Finland's Raimo Helminen doesn't say much but plays a huge role for his Olympic ice hockey team.

"He is a pretty quiet guy, but when he says something everybody listens," team mate Olli Jokinen told reporters following Saturday's 8-1 thrashing of Belarus in the final round of the Olympic tournament.

Helminen, who turns 38 next month, is the first ice hockey player in the history of the Winter Games to participate in his sixth Olympic competition.

Russia captain Igor Larionov, who won two Olympic gold medals for the Soviet Union in 1984 and 1988, is the oldest hockey player in Salt Lake City.

"You never know, maybe he can play in his seventh Olympics in four years. He is only 37 and Larionov is 41 by the way," added Jokinen, a star left winger for the NHL's Florida Panthers, who scored two first-period goals against Belarus.

Helminen, a former NHL player with the New York Rangers and New York Islanders in the 1980s, assisted on Finland's seventh goal by defenseman Aki-Petteri Berg.

22:34 02-16-02

Olympics-Alpine skiing-Canada's Anderson recovering after crash

SNOWBASIN, Utah, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Canadian Alpine skier David Anderson is expected to be discharged from hospital on Sunday after crashing during a Winter Olympics super-G training run.

Anderson was taken to hospital after falling on Friday. It was initially feared he had suffered serious injuries but hospital staff later said he had suffered only bruising and possible concussion.

"He has already commenced physiotherapy and had a second scan this afternoon," Canadian Alpine skiing team spokesman Steve Keogh said on Saturday.

Anderson will be treated by Canadian medical staff at the Salt Lake City Olympic Village before returning home next week. The 22-year-old from Rossland, British Columbia, finished 38th in last Sunday's downhill. Saturday's super-G was won by Kjetil Andre Aamodt.

21:33 02-16-02

Olympics-Games braced for bad weather and transport chaos

SALT LAKE CITY, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Bad weather is heading for the Winter Olympics which could delay events and cause transport problems, with organisers on Saturday urging spectators to leave their cars at home.

"The weather so far has been A minus but the weather for the second half will be a C, with snow and winds," said organising committee head Mitt Romney.

"We are very concerned about the events at Snowbasin."

The Alpine skiing is held at Snowbasin, with the women's super-G scheduled for Sunday.

Romney told a news conference he was very pleased with the first half of the 17-day games but was worried by signs of complacency among fans going to events.

They were setting out later, the number of cars was rising and the average occupancy of cars was going down, which could cause serious problems if the forecast snow was heavy.

21:10 02-16-02

Olympics-Ice hockey-Injured Lemieux may not play against Germany

SALT LAKE CITY, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Captain Mario Lemieux, troubled by nagging groin and hip problems, may not play in Canada's final round game against Germany on Sunday, team director Wayne Gretzky said on Saturday.

Gretzky told a news conference that the Pittsburgh Penguins star is listed as day-to-day and that a decision to play Lemieux will be made just before the game.

"Mario's got a little bit of an injury so we're not sure if he's going to play or not...at this point in time it's 50-50. We'd rather see him take tomorrow off and see him in Monday's game," Gretzky said.

"He skated today though, he practised. So it's not like he can't skate or can't play. It's more like we're looking at this as a precautionary measure and maybe resting him," he added.

Canada lost 5-2 to Sweden on Friday and Lemieux, one of the game's most explosive offensive forces, had little impact.

With the round robin format of the final round deciding only seedings for the quarter-finals, Canada officials would like to see Lemieux rest up as he often does during the NHL season.

The 36-year-old forward who came out of a three-year retirement last season, rarely plays back-to-back games in the NHL and rested for several games ahead of the Olympics after having hip surgery a couple of months ago.

"If he feels that he's going to be able to play tomorrow night and Monday night, then he'll play. It's his decision. But as I said, our goal is to have him play Monday night (against the Czech Republic),"Gretzky said.

20:30 02-16-02

Olympics-Biathlon-Factfile on Olga Pyleva

SOLDIER HOLLOW, Utah, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Factfile on Olga Pyleva, winner of the women's biathlon 10 km pursuit at the Winter Olympics on Saturday:

Age: 26 (Born July 7, 1975. Krasnoyarsk)

Country: Russia

Former a world junior champion cross-country skier who has successfully made the switch to biathlon.

A soldier by profession, Pyleva is married to her coach Yevgeny Pylev. They have one daughter, Daria. In other races at Salt Lake, she finished eighth in the sprint and fourth in the 15 km. She enjoys travelling.

Past Olympics: None

Other successes: Won relay gold with the Russia at the world championships of 2000 and 2001. Best individual finish in worlds was fourth in the 10 km pursuit last year. Has been on the podium after five World Cup races but never won.

Reaction: "Is this fair? In the biathlon nothing is fair. I'm just lucky today. Everything came together."

16:49 02-16-02

Olympics-Biathlon-Pyleva hits target for gold

By Judith Crosson

SOLDIER HOLLOW, Utah, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Russia's Olga Pyleva gave her rivals a lesson in the importance of accurate marksmanship in the biathlon on Saturday, winning the gold in the women's 10 km pursuit.

The 26-year-old soldier missed only one shot to come from an eighth-placed start to win in 31 minutes 7.7 seconds.

"I would have been happy with any medal, but of course the gold is wonderful," she said after the race.

The gold medal will be all the sweeter for Pyleva after two missed targets on the last shoot in Monday's 15 km race cost her a possible victory.

Germany's Kati Wilhelm, 25, who started first with a 16-second advantage after winning the 7.5 km sprint, recovered from missing three targets in her first shoot to take silver, 5.3 seconds behind Pyleva. Irina Nikoultchina of Bulgaria took bronze.

Wilhelm, who sports brightly dyed red hair, said she felt like she was in a dream, having won gold at the sprint and silver on Saturday.

"I never thought I'd get these medals. I've not realised it yet," she said.

Nikoultchina, 27, started one minute 16 seconds behind Wilhelm and was delighted with her third place.

"I knew this was my last chance to medal, and I just had to go all the way to the end," she said.

The race was won and lost at the last of the four shooting stops when the leading pair of Sweden's Magdalena Forsberg and Liv Grete Poiree of Norway both missed two targets and had to ski two penalty loops.

Both were disappointed to lose out so close to the end.

"I should not have missed as many as I did, but it was difficult to focus on my own shooting," Forsberg said after the race.

Those misses changed the course of the race and let Pyleva and Wilhelm, both former cross-country skiers who switched to biathlon, take over the lead.

"If it had only been one miss, I think I could have made it," said Poiree.

LUCKY HAND

Pyleva did not realise at first the lucky hand she had been dealt.

"When I approached the final firing range I didn't know what the results of the other athletes were," she said. "I saw them leaving the shooting position thinking the maximum they could have was one penalty each."

"When I was leaving I saw they were still doing their penalty rounds. It was then I realized I was close to the possibility of winning," she added.

In the pursuit, a discipline staged for the first time at these Winter Games, participants skied five two-kilometre laps, interspersed with the four rounds of shooting, two prone and two on their feet.

A missed target sends the skier on a penalty loop, costing them valuable time.

Forsberg, a pre-race favourite, took the lead early, missing only one target in the second shooting round.

For a while it looked like the 34-year-old World Cup rankings leader would get her first Olympic gold after winning bronze at two other biathlon events.

Instead, her total of three shots missed left her in sixth place at the finish.

"I have two bronze medals already this Olympics but I'm not going to deny that it would be nice to have a gold medal before I finish my career," she said.

16:48 02-16-02

Olympics-So far, so very good for Salt Lake Games

By Robert Woodward

SALT LAKE CITY, Feb 16 (Reuters) - At the halfway stage of the Salt Lake City Olympics, the organisers' report card reads so far, so very good.

Francois Carrard, the International Olympic Committee's director general says: "Everything is going extremely well, they (the Games) are excellent in all aspects."

Right from the opening ceremony, it has gone almost like clockwork and daily co-ordination meetings between Olympic officials and organisers are over in a matter of minutes.

The figure skating scandal, involving alleged vote-rigging in the pairs competition, has dominated the first week of competition, undoubtedly throwing a shadow over the Games.

But it cannot be laid at the door of the Salt Lake Organising Committee (SLOC) which is no doubt delighted by the higher than expected television ratings the controversy has helped generate.

Mitt Romney, head of the Salt Lake Organising Committee, agrees SLOC is delighted by the first half of the Games but he warns that bad weather and complacency among spectators could cause big problems over the next few days.

Snow and winds are forecast and Romney said he was "very, very concerned about transportation."

"There are signs of vulnerability that come from success," he said. Because of the lack of transport problems so far, spectators are beginning to leave later for events, using more cars and the average occupancy of the cars is falling.

GLITZ AVOIDED

The tone of the Games was set by the opening ceremony which shied away from the glitz and pyrotechnics of Atlanta in 1996 and Los Angeles in 1984, partly in deference to the events of September 11.

The bribery scandal which erupted following Salt Lake City's successful bid for the Winter Games hurt everyone here. But it taught the organisers a valuable lesson - that you cannot take anything for granted.

Doing it right has been the watchword and, by and large, the organisers have succeeded, bar a few traffic problems and selling out of 400,000 hot dogs early in the first week.

"The most important thing, is the organisers are creative," said Marcel Sturkenboom, deputy leader of the Dutch team. "I'd give them a nine."

High levels of security following the attacks on New York and Washington - around 15,000 soldiers, police and secret service agents are guarding the Games - threatened to impede fans' enjoyment of the sporting action in the early days.

But complaints about over-zealous security have largely faded away. As at the 2000 Sydney Games, the army of volunteers has been important in setting a friendly tone for the Games and only 77 out of the 25,714 have dropped out.

"If you have to be labelled, being labelled too nice is not the end of the world," said Ed Eynon, of SLOC's human resources department.

The centre of Salt Lake City itself has been transformed by the influx of visitors, the sidewalks overflowing, music in the air wherever you go and alcohol very much part of the fun.

Romney was particularly pleased by the success of the Olympic Medals Plaza in the downtown area. Up to 50,000 people have thronged there at night to see the medals being presented and enjoy sideshows and a series of high-quality performers.

Businesses complain people enjoying the Olympic buzz are not spending as much as they hoped, and some restaurants are reporting trade down 45 percent from last February.

But Utah taxpayers will be relieved to hear that the Games are on track to break even - and leave a $40 million fund to maintain Olympic facilities after the Olympics have left town.

22:19 02-16-02

Olympics-Biathlon-Medals-Pyleva wins women's 10 km pursuit

SOLDIER HOLLOW, Utah, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Medal winners in the women's biathlon 10 km pursuit at the Winter Olympics on Saturday:

Gold - Olga Pyleva (Russia)

Silver - Kati Wilhelm (Germany)

Bronze - Irina Nikoultchina (Bulgaria)

14:33 02-16-02

Olympics-Biathlon-Ole, Ole, Ole, Bjoerndalen wins gold

By Judith Crosson

SOLDIER HOLLOW, Utah, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Norway's Ole Einar Bjoerndalen won the men's 12.5 km biathlon pursuit on Saturday, giving him a place in the record books as the first biathlete to win three gold medals at a single Olympics.

"I was skiing on a positive wave today. It was really fun out there, which I think is important. Sometimes the Olympics can get a bit too serious," he said moments after his first place finish.

Despite missing two of his 20 targets in the shooting and taking the subsequent penalty loops, the 28-year-old was never in trouble and won in 32 minutes 34.6 seconds, 43 seconds ahead of French World Cup leader Raphael Poiree who won the silver.

Each time Bjoerndalen hit one of his 20 targets the sell-out crowd, aware that his shooting can sometimes be erratic, cheered wildly and when he finished he kissed his skies, waved his poles at the grandstand and warmly hugged his two coaches.

Bjoerndalen was a heavy pre-race favourite given his victories in the 20 km on Monday and the 10 km sprint on Wednesday.

The latter victory meant he started Saturday's race first, but despite this advantage he was keen to stress that he had not regarded victory as a foregone conclusion.

"To win three races at the Olympics is hard for me, especially when there are 10 to 15 people who have a chance to win," he said.

Bjoerndalen also won a gold medal in the 10 km sprint in Nagano four years ago, giving him a career total of four individual gold medals, which is also a record.

Poiree, who started ninth, made his way up the field with some swift, accurate shooting -- he only missed one target -- and powerful skiing to finish second and match the silver medal his Norwegian wife Liv Grete won on Monday in the women's 15 km race.

Germany's Ricco Gross, who started fourth, held off a late challenge from Austria's Ludwig Gredler to claim a bronze medal, adding to his two silver medals won in 1992 and 1994.

Gross, a three-time Olympic relay champion, was shooting perfectly until the fourth and final round when the 31-year-old missed the mark twice.

OLYMPIC DEBUT

Bjoerndalen was ahead of his 59 rivals throughout the pursuit event, which made its Olympic debut at the Salt Lake Winter Games. The Norwegian beat Poiree home by 43.7 seconds.

In the pursuit participants ski four 2.5 km laps, interspersed with four rounds of shooting, two prone and two on their feet and the first skier over the finish line wins.

The Norwegian missed one target in the first round, from the prone position, and one in the fourth and final round on his feet.

"For Olympics I shoot sometimes really good and sometimes really bad," he told reporters later.

He was slow and deliberate in his shooting early on, but speeded up as the race wore on.

"Sometimes in the prone position you have enough concentration for shooting fast. You need to have the feeling," he said.

Because the pursuit is a new event no biathlete before the Utah Games could have won three medals in individual events.

In 1988, Frank-Peter Roetsch of the former East Germany won two golds and former Soviet Union biathlete Alexander Tikhonov won four gold medals in relay events from 1968 through 1980.

The Norwegian got a well-deserved compliment from bronze medal winner Gross.

"It was a very interesting race and you saw an outstanding Bjoerndalen," Gross told reporters.

Germany's Sven Fischer who started second, 28.9 seconds behind Bjoerndalen, finished 11th after missing four targets.

14:18 02-16-02

Olympics-Biathlon-Medals-Pyleva wins women's 10 km pursuit

SOLDIER HOLLOW, Utah, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Medal winners in the women's biathlon 10 km pursuit at the Winter Olympics on Saturday:

Gold - Olga Pyleva (Russia)

Silver - Kati Wilhelm (Germany)

Bronze - Irina Nikoultchina (Bulgaria)

14:33 02-16-02

Olympics-Bulgaria to bid for 2014 Winter Games

SOFIA, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Bulgarian capital Sofia will bid to hold the Winter Olympics in 2014, its third attempt to host the Games after two previous bids failed, local media reported on Saturday.

Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee, has been informed of the decision by Bulgarian Olympic Committee president Ivan Slavkov and Vassil Ivanov, chief of the State Agency for Youth and Sports, said sports daily Seven Days Sport.

Rogge had been in the IOC team evaluating Sofia's sports facilities, located at the foot of the Vitosha mountains, when the capital was trying for the 1992 and 1994 Games.

"In 1986 Mr Rogge was on an inspection at the Vitosha mountains and said Sofia was one of the strongest bids for Winter Olympics," Ivanov said in an interview with the Bulgarian state radio.

"This time we have all the chances to succeed," Slavkov said in an interview with popular daily newspaper 24 Hours.

07:23 02-16-02

Olympic Visitors Send E-Postcards, Check E-mail From Multi-State Visitor Center

SALT LAKE CITY, Feb. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Idaho, Nevada and Utah are offering visitors to the 2002 Winter Olympic Games an opportunity to learn more about each of the three states at the Western States Discovery Center located at 222 South Main Street in Salt Lake City.

The center is open from 11:00 a.m. until 12:00 Midnight for the duration of the Olympics, until the close of the Paralympics on March 16.

Center visitors access Olympic news updates, send free E-mail postcards to friends or family and have tourism and economic development information forwarded to their homes or businesses.

More than 1,000 E-mail messages have been sent from the center since it opened February 7th.

"The E-Postcards are popular," says Celeste Becia, Idaho Department of Commerce. "In fact, we've expanded the program to allow users to check their personal E-mail at home."

In honor of Idaho's Olympic athletes, as well as Idahoans serving as volunteers at the games, state officials have designated February 16 and 21 as "Idaho Day."

Nine Idaho athletes are racing or have participated in the 2002 Winter Olympic Games. In addition to the legendary Picabo Street, snowboarders Sondra Van Ert and Lisa Kosglow are both World Cup veterans. Others from Idaho include Jeret Peterson, aerialist; Alpine racer Dane Spencer and Tessa Benoit, cross-country. Greg Sun of Moscow, Idaho is representing Trinidad in the two-man bobsled races and the father-son team of Werner and Chris Hoeger represented Venezuela in the luge singles.

Idaho has three athletes in the Paralympic games to be held in Salt Lake City, March 7-16. 1998 Paralympic Bronze medalist Muffy Davis of Sun Valley will join Jacob Rife of Pocatello and Lacey Heward of Boise.

Idaho citizens playing critical roles in the success of the 2002 Olympics, from providing security to grooming the trails, include four-time Olympic biathlete Lyle Nelson, of McCall, manager of Soldier Hollow. Mike Fischer of Boise is a retired U.S. Army Major responsible for computer operations, including scoring systems, race timing and results distribution for Olympic competitions at Park City, Deer Valley and Olympic Park. Travis Jones of Boise is Chief of Fore Runners for Nordic events. He and his crew of 40 top junior racers from around the U.S. are making sure conditions are the same for every racer, whether they are first or last in the event.

Olympics-Snowboarding-Rebels prove they have Olympic following

By Deborah Charles

PARK CITY, Utah, Feb 16 (Reuters) - In Nagano, they were scandal-scarred rebels.

In Salt Lake, snowboarders have edged closer to the mainstream, proving they can pull in huge crowds while still retaining their cherished individuality.

As snowboarding grows in popularity as a recreational sport, so does its Olympic following. The halfpipe and parallel giant slalom events drew huge crowds to Park City Mountain Resort.

"Snowboarders are athletes like any other," said France's Karine Ruby, silver medallist in the woman's parallel giant slalom. "I really feel the Olympic spirit. We've proven that people should respect our sport."

Respect is what snowboarders say they want, after allegations of drug use and wild partying in Nagano.

In the halfpipe -- an event deemed by purists not worthy of Olympic status -- boarders reached new heights as they rode up and down an icy pipe cut into the snow, performing tricky aerial acrobatic manouevres to the sound of blaring rock music.

American Ross Powers led a host nation sweep of the men's halfpipe -- the first sweep by the United States in the Winter Games since 1956. All four Americans made the finals and Powers, Danny Kass and Jarret Thomas rode their way to the podium.

Their victory came just a day after team mate Kelly Clark won the women's event. France's Doriane Vidal and Switzerland's Fabienne Reuteler took silver and bronze.

But debate continued among snowboarders, some sporting Mohican haircuts, over the importance of the Olympics.

Some, like Kass, have said in the past the Olympics aren't the pinnacle for a boarder because the strict rules stymie independence, which is inherent in the sport.

But others say while some very talented snowboarders never compete because they don't like the rules, it's impossible to brush aside the feeling of being an Olympian.

'HUGE DEAL'

"The Olympics is a huge deal for us," said two-time Olympian Powers. "Some people try to play it off, but the Olympics are huge and they're lying if they say anything else."

Athletes competing in the parallel giant slalom -- similar to its Alpine cousin except that two competitors race each other head-to-head -- say they like their independence but manage to express it in their event.

"Parallel is very good, because it's our sport. Skiing does giant slalom," said gold medallist Isabelle Blanc of France. "We don't have to do the same thing -- we have to get our own identity."

The debut of head-to-head matchup giant slalom races on snowboards at Salt Lake City proved a huge success.

Though more difficult for the rider, because of the proximity of his opponent and the fact that he must race eight times on the day of the finals to win, it proved a crowd pleaser.

The French women showed their prowess with gold and silver, and on the men's side a series of tumbles left the victory to unheralded Philipp Schoch of Switzerland, followed by Sweden's Richard Richardsson and American Chris Klug.

06:07 02-16-02

Olympics-Luge-Germans have a party without gentleman Hackl

By Tony Lawrence

SALT LAKE CITY, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Salt Lake City's luge podiums, as usual, were peppered with Germans. An Italian, however, had the audacity to spoil their party.

And how Armin Zoeggeler spoilt it.

Georg Hackl, bidding to become the first Winter Olympics competitor to win four consecutive gold medals in the same individual event, was forced back into silver as the Italian, runner-up in Nagano and the bronze medallist in 1994, took revenge for past disappointments.

The 35-year-old Hackl, nicknamed the "Speeding Sausage" and renowned for his love of a good beer, missed out on history by 0.329 seconds but proved a champion gentleman.

Hauling his way out of his Porsche-designed luge -- he used to make all his own -- he declared: "This second place is where I belong.

"Armin is the right Olympic champion."

Silver in the men's singles was followed by a German clean-sweep in the women's event and a gold in the doubles.

Double world champion Sylke Otto led home the women, at the same time giving her a first Olympic medal. Barbara Niedernhuber took the silver for the second Games in a row while defending champion Silke Kraushaar settled for bronze.

Within no time, Germany's 'Flying Bavarians' Patric-Fritz Leitner and Alexander Resch were also sliding past and onto the doubles podium, leaving two American teams in their slipstream.

They flirted with disaster on their second and final run by clipping a wall but laughed it off afterwards.

Leitner and Resch, the overall World Cup champions and both soldiers from Berchtesgaden high in the Bavarian Alps -- Hackl country -- were simply delighted.

"I never believed that fools like us could win the gold medal at the Olympics," said Leitner, who promised himself a marathon party to prove his stamina.

"We have crashed about 50 times in our career but this year only three times and here we didn't crash at all."

He sounded surprised. Nobody else was as the German national anthem sounded again.

Indeed, most luge competitors should probably consider living in Germany, or at least learning the language at evening classes, as part of their Turin 2006 Winter Olympics preparation.

A men's singles podium without a German is virtually impossible -- actually it did happen once in 38 years of Winter Olympics luge history, in 1984 in Sarajevo, when the East Germans came fourth and fifth.

The women's record is even better. They have never missed the three magic steps, taking 24 medals out of 33 since the sport's debut at Innsbruck in 1964.

The record books for the doubles -- technically open to both women and men but yet to attract a female -- offer a similar script.

So thank goodness for Armin Zoeggeler.

Who, incidentally, speaks German. Very passable German indeed.

06:04 02-16-02

Olympics-Park City mayor rocks on

By Judith Crosson

PARK CITY, Utah, Feb 16 (Reuters) - The state of Utah is putting its best foot forward, showing it can be a good host to the Winter Games and a great friend to international visitors.

But the mayor of Park City, the most non-Mormon town in Utah, is doing his best to make friends with the rest of the state.

While he is becoming known worldwide for his rock band and snowboarding, Mayor Dana Williams doesn't want anyone to forget that he was once a crop farmer.

Park City is a 40 minute drive from Salt Lake City, the headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as the Mormon Church is formally called.

But for more than 100 years this little former silver mining town turned ski resort has been a world apart in culture, religion, and morals.

For decades the town known for gambling, prostitution and hard drinking was out of step with its Mormon neighbors who settled the state.

Fun is still a big deal here. Park City has closed its historic Main Street to vehicular traffic during the Games so visitors can enjoy outdoor eating, daily parades and fireworks.

But because Park City, population 7,500, lured immigrants from Europe for jobs instead of religion other parts of the state have always regarded it suspiciously.

So the mayor who only took office in January figured the Olympics was a good place to start getting cozier with the rest of the state.

ALL MAYORS INVITED

"We've invited every mayor, 237 of them, to Park City during the Games. Fifty of them have showed up," Williams said on Friday.

The mayor is in the international spotlight, appearing on television and giving interviews. He has been dubbed the mayor who rocks.

For good reasons, too. He is a member of the Motherlode Canyon Band.

Mr Mayor was thrilled to have been the opening act on Wednesday night for rock star Sheryl Crow who performed at a benefit in Park City for the U.S. Olympic Ski Team. "It beats therapy," he said.

The California native who spent summers in Park City as a youth is quick to mention his days as a farmer when he visits with rural town mayors from around the state.

"In 1984 I was named farmer of the year," he said.

What the city really is doesn't fit the image, Williams said.

"Everybody thinks the town is extremely affluent and arrogant," he said.

But the mayor, who ran a bar until he got married 17 years ago, said there is another side. "Sixty percent of our citizens have an annual income under $50,000 a year."

But rich people and their big houses mean cleaning ladies and gardeners. "Somebody has to wash those windows," said Williams.

06:02 02-16-02

Olympics-Biathlon-Ole, Ole, Ole, Bjoerndalen wins gold

By Judith Crosson

SOLDIER HOLLOW, Utah, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Norway's Ole Einar Bjoerndalen won the men's 12.5 km biathlon pursuit on Saturday, giving him a place in the record books as the first biathlete to win three gold medals at a single Olympics.

"I was skiing on a positive wave today. It was really fun out there, which I think is important. Sometimes the Olympics can get a bit too serious," he said moments after his first place finish.

Despite missing two of his 20 targets in the shooting and taking the subsequent penalty loops, the 28-year-old was never in trouble and won in 32 minutes 34.6 seconds, 43 seconds ahead of French World Cup leader Raphael Poiree who won the silver.

Each time Bjoerndalen hit one of his 20 targets the sell-out crowd, aware that his shooting can sometimes be erratic, cheered wildly and when he finished he kissed his skies, waved his poles at the grandstand and warmly hugged his two coaches.

Bjoerndalen was a heavy pre-race favourite given his victories in the 20 km on Monday and the 10 km sprint on Wednesday.

The latter victory meant he started Saturday's race first, but despite this advantage he was keen to stress that he had not regarded victory as a foregone conclusion.

"To win three races at the Olympics is hard for me, especially when there are 10 to 15 people who have a chance to win," he said.

Bjoerndalen also won a gold medal in the 10 km sprint in Nagano four years ago, giving him a career total of four individual gold medals, which is also a record.

Poiree, who started ninth, made his way up the field with some swift, accurate shooting -- he only missed one target -- and powerful skiing to finish second and match the silver medal his Norwegian wife Liv Grete won on Monday in the women's 15 km race.

Germany's Ricco Gross, who started fourth, held off a late challenge from Austria's Ludwig Gredler to claim a bronze medal, adding to his two silver medals won in 1992 and 1994.

Gross, a three-time Olympic relay champion, was shooting perfectly until the fourth and final round when the 31-year-old missed the mark twice.

OLYMPIC DEBUT

Bjoerndalen was ahead of his 59 rivals throughout the pursuit event, which made its Olympic debut at the Salt Lake Winter Games. The Norwegian beat Poiree home by 43.7 seconds.

In the pursuit participants ski four 2.5 km laps, interspersed with four rounds of shooting, two prone and two on their feet and the first skier over the finish line wins.

The Norwegian missed one target in the first round, from the prone position, and one in the fourth and final round on his feet.

"For Olympics I shoot sometimes really good and sometimes really bad," he told reporters later.

He was slow and deliberate in his shooting early on, but speeded up as the race wore on.

"Sometimes in the prone position you have enough concentration for shooting fast. You need to have the feeling," he said.

Because the pursuit is a new event no biathlete before the Utah Games could have won three medals in individual events.

In 1988, Frank-Peter Roetsch of the former East Germany won two golds and former Soviet Union biathlete Alexander Tikhonov won four gold medals in relay events from 1968 through 1980.

The Norwegian got a well-deserved compliment from bronze medal winner Gross.

"It was a very interesting race and you saw an outstanding Bjoerndalen," Gross told reporters.

Germany's Sven Fischer who started second, 28.9 seconds behind Bjoerndalen, finished 11th after missing four targets.

14:18 02-16-02

Olympics-Saturday-Eberharter looks to super-G for elusive gold

By Robert Woodward

SALT LAKE CITY, Feb 16 (Reuters) - One down and one to go - Stephan Eberharter's chance of a first Olympic gold medal now depends on his performance in Saturday's super-G.

At 32, Eberharter, relegated to third in last weekend's downhill, is unlikely to be in the frame for a medal in Turin in four years' time and the super-G has been his strongest event this season.

The Austrian, beaten by team mate Fritz Strobl in the downhill, has won three of the four super-Gs this winter. "Having done so well this season obviously gives me confidence but I know that you can always be beaten," he said.

The major threat to the mighty Austrians, who have two other serious contenders in Andreas Schifferer and Christoph Gruber, will come chiefly from Switzerland's Didier Cuche, on the podium in every super-G this season.

Five other gold medals will be decided on Saturday - two in biathlon, two in short track speed skating and one in speedskating.

The ice hockey arena will witness one of the great contests in any sport when the United States face off against Russia in the men's event.

Norway's Ole Einar Bjoerndalen, the master of men's biathlon, would become the first in his discipline to take three golds at an Olympics if he wins the men's 12.5 km pursuit.

The 28-year-old has a 28.9 second lead over Sven Fischer of Germany. In the pursuit, which makes its Olympic debut here, the winner of Wednesday's 10 km sprint starts first.

In the women's 10 km event, Germany's Kati Wilhelm has a 15-second lead over team mate Uschi Disl. Sweden's Magdalena Forsberg starts 39 seconds after Wilhelm.

Canadian world record holder Jeremy Wotherspoon, who fell in the opening strides of the 500 metres speed skating, is desperate to win the 1,000. If he stays upright, he has a great chance as he leads the World Cup standings.

On the short track, home nation favourite Apolo Anton Ohno could earn his first gold of a four-race bid in the 1,000 metres.

Ohno races off against defending Olympic champion Kim Dong-Sung of South Korea. Paired against each other in the opening heat, Kim won easily but Ohno had taken his foot off the gas knowing he would qualify for the next round.

In the women's 500 metres, China has its best chance of winning its first Winter Games gold with five-time world champion Yang Yang (A) leading their challenge.

After Friday's momentous events off track when Canadians Jamie Sale and David Pelletier were awarded figure skating pairs gold over a judging furore, athletes and officials will no doubt be glad to re-focus attention on a full day of coloruful action.

02:28 02-16-02