Word: biathlons
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...Soldier Hollow in midway (435-654-2002), visitors are steadying their .22-cal. rifles and taking aim at targets after cross-country skiing the Olympic biathlon course. Try not to be distracted by Soldier Hollow's backdrop--11,750-ft. Mount Timpanogos. down in the salt lake valley, you'll find the fastest ice on earth at the Olympic Oval (801-963-7109), where 10 records were set, eight of which still stand. You can try setting your own with the help of a coach and rental skates on the 400-m oval...
While American fans were cheering the exploits of skating star Sarah Hughes and short track skater Apolo Anton Ohno and Germans acclaimed their lugers and speedskaters, Norway provided the Man of the 2002 Olympics: biathlete Ole Einar Bjorndalen. After taking gold in the three individual biathlon disciplines, 12.5-km pursuit, 10-km sprint and 20 km, he anchored the men's 4x7.5-km relay for Norway's first-ever gold in that event. Biathlon, a combination of cross-country skiing and target shooting, says biathlete Frode Andresen, "is the two disciplines that meet in hell, because it is at one extreme...
Future results for Norway could possibly come in the more extreme skiing events, following World Cup freestyle skiing moguls champion Kari Traa's gold medal. The success of their athletes at Salt Lake City is likely to make sports- mad Norwegians even more enthusiastic. Televised biathlon regularly pulls audiences of around 25% of the population, rising to an estimated 34% for the men's Olympic relay competition. "There's such a strong national feeling," says Aamodt. "I'm thankful that I come from a nation that so strongly supports winter sports...
...Germans seem to be nearly everywhere. True, they are short on alpine skiers and figure skaters, and their hockey and curling teams folded early. But they are superpowers in biathlon and speed skating. And even in ski jumping, their K120 team managed to slip ahead of the Finns to snatch the gold by the slimmest of margins...
While sweating on the elliptical machine at the gym, completely absorbed by Giant Slalom ski racing on TV, I finally understood why Norwegian Ole Einar Bjoerndalen’s chance for a fourth gold medal in the biathlon mattered to me. As a friend hopped on the machine next to me, managing to distract me from the TV, I apologized for my unfriendliness and Olympic absorption. But then she popped a question that hadn’t ever occurred to me to ask myself...