By Julien Pretot
ROSA KHUTOR, Russia Sat Feb 8, 2014 7:10am EST
<span id="articleText"><span id="midArticle_start"/> ROSA KHUTOR, Russia (Reuters) - Marit Bjoergen fulfilled expectations by earning her fourth Olympic gold medal with victory in the skiathlon event on a bittersweet Saturday for Norway at the Sochi Winter Games.
<span id="midArticle_1"/> Bjoergen, dubbed the 'Iron Lady,' stayed safe in the leading pack for most of the race, which combines 7.5km in classic style and 7.5km in freestyle, until outsprinting Sweden's Charlotte Kalla in the race to the finish.
<span id="midArticle_2"/> Another Norwegian, Heidi Weng, took third place just ahead of World Cup leader and compatriot Therese Johaug, who paid the price of working tirelessly at the front of the pack in the second part of the race.
<span id="midArticle_3"/> All four of the Norwegian skiers in the race were wearing black armbands after receiving the news that the brother of cross-country team mate Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen had died on Friday, the day of the opening ceremony.
<span id="midArticle_4"/> "My fantastic girls ... You are my strength in thick and thin," Tweeted Jacobsen during the race. "Thanks for the commemorating armbands. Forever grateful, whether there will be medals or not."
<span id="midArticle_5"/> Television pictures later showed the Norwegian skiers hugging together, with a crying Bjoergen resting Johaug's head on her shoulder.
<span id="midArticle_6"/> Bjoergen came home in a time of 38:33.6, 1.8 seconds ahead of Kalla.
<span id="midArticle_7"/> "One gold was my goal, so now I can relax a little bit. I can enjoy the rest of the Games," Bjoergen, who still has five events to take part in, told reporters.
<span id="midArticle_8"/> "I knew Charlotte would be strong in the sprint and she's good at the climbs but I thought that if I could follow her, I would have a chance.
<span id="midArticle_9"/> "I knew it would be a sprint. I did my best for the last 100 metres and I was sprinting very hard at the end."
<span id="midArticle_10"/> COMPLTE CONTROL
<span id="midArticle_11"/> Norway women's coach Egil Kristiansen, told TV2: "Marit seemed to be in complete control. And with third and fourth place too, it's a great day."
<span id="midArticle_12"/> Bjoergen's fourth Olympic gold medal takes her past Sonja Henie as the most successful woman from Norway in summer or winter Games.
<span id="midArticle_13"/> Kalla was the fastest at the 7.5km mark where the field changed skis but things did not go as smoothly for Pole Justyna Kowalczyk, who fell just before the stop and lost time she could not recover.
<span id="midArticle_14"/> Johaug then pulled the leading pack of five into the final 3.75-km lap as they charged down a descent at over 70kph.
<span id="midArticle_15"/> Kalla attacked with just under a kilometre left, taking Bjoergen in her slipstream and the Norwegian, who has now eight Olympic medals to her name, put in the decisive attack on the sprint to the line.
<span id="midArticle_0"/> Second place seemed to satisfy Kalla, though.
<span id="midArticle_1"/> "This is my dream," she said.
<span id="midArticle_2"/> "It means a lot to me to be on the podium for the first time. I could not imagine this before the race."
<span id="midArticle_3"/> (Additional reporting by Terje Solsvik and Dmitry Rogovitskyi; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
<span id="midArticle_4"/>
ROSA KHUTOR, Russia Sat Feb 8, 2014 7:10am EST
<span id="articleText"><span id="midArticle_start"/> ROSA KHUTOR, Russia (Reuters) - Marit Bjoergen fulfilled expectations by earning her fourth Olympic gold medal with victory in the skiathlon event on a bittersweet Saturday for Norway at the Sochi Winter Games.
<span id="midArticle_1"/> Bjoergen, dubbed the 'Iron Lady,' stayed safe in the leading pack for most of the race, which combines 7.5km in classic style and 7.5km in freestyle, until outsprinting Sweden's Charlotte Kalla in the race to the finish.
<span id="midArticle_2"/> Another Norwegian, Heidi Weng, took third place just ahead of World Cup leader and compatriot Therese Johaug, who paid the price of working tirelessly at the front of the pack in the second part of the race.
<span id="midArticle_3"/> All four of the Norwegian skiers in the race were wearing black armbands after receiving the news that the brother of cross-country team mate Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen had died on Friday, the day of the opening ceremony.
<span id="midArticle_4"/> "My fantastic girls ... You are my strength in thick and thin," Tweeted Jacobsen during the race. "Thanks for the commemorating armbands. Forever grateful, whether there will be medals or not."
<span id="midArticle_5"/> Television pictures later showed the Norwegian skiers hugging together, with a crying Bjoergen resting Johaug's head on her shoulder.
<span id="midArticle_6"/> Bjoergen came home in a time of 38:33.6, 1.8 seconds ahead of Kalla.
<span id="midArticle_7"/> "One gold was my goal, so now I can relax a little bit. I can enjoy the rest of the Games," Bjoergen, who still has five events to take part in, told reporters.
<span id="midArticle_8"/> "I knew Charlotte would be strong in the sprint and she's good at the climbs but I thought that if I could follow her, I would have a chance.
<span id="midArticle_9"/> "I knew it would be a sprint. I did my best for the last 100 metres and I was sprinting very hard at the end."
<span id="midArticle_10"/> COMPLTE CONTROL
<span id="midArticle_11"/> Norway women's coach Egil Kristiansen, told TV2: "Marit seemed to be in complete control. And with third and fourth place too, it's a great day."
<span id="midArticle_12"/> Bjoergen's fourth Olympic gold medal takes her past Sonja Henie as the most successful woman from Norway in summer or winter Games.
<span id="midArticle_13"/> Kalla was the fastest at the 7.5km mark where the field changed skis but things did not go as smoothly for Pole Justyna Kowalczyk, who fell just before the stop and lost time she could not recover.
<span id="midArticle_14"/> Johaug then pulled the leading pack of five into the final 3.75-km lap as they charged down a descent at over 70kph.
<span id="midArticle_15"/> Kalla attacked with just under a kilometre left, taking Bjoergen in her slipstream and the Norwegian, who has now eight Olympic medals to her name, put in the decisive attack on the sprint to the line.
<span id="midArticle_0"/> Second place seemed to satisfy Kalla, though.
<span id="midArticle_1"/> "This is my dream," she said.
<span id="midArticle_2"/> "It means a lot to me to be on the podium for the first time. I could not imagine this before the race."
<span id="midArticle_3"/> (Additional reporting by Terje Solsvik and Dmitry Rogovitskyi; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
<span id="midArticle_4"/>
- Link this
- Share this
- Digg this
- Reprints
via Smart Health Shop Forum http://ift.tt/1iGddpT
No comments:
Post a Comment