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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...
Until Bjorndalen's record-breaking feats, the Norwegian team's star performer in Salt Lake City had been alpine skier Kjetil Andre Aamodt. By taking two gold medals Aamodt wrote himself into the record books with seven Olympic medals, more than any other alpine skier. He was favored to win the combined - one downhill run and two slaloms - and then went on to snatch the super-G from Austrian favorite Stephan Eberharter by .10 sec. The two victories were not a bad result for the 30-year-old, who is often referred to as "the veteran" even though...
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...
...easy being a German winter-sports star. There are so many of them. Take speed skater Anni Friesinger, a glamour girl who has posed ... um, er, provocatively for the popular press. She had to wait until the Games' second week before taking her first medal, a gold in the 1,500 m. In the first week she came in a disappointing fourth in the 3,000 m and fifth in the 1,000 m behind fellow Germans like bitter rival Claudia Pechstein and teammate Sabine Voel-ker, a triple medal winner...
...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...