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Pyleva Wins Gold in Women's Biathlon 10-kilometer Pursuit
VOA Sports 17 Feb 2002 00:16 UTC  
The 26-year-old Russian made up a deficit of one minute and three seconds and missed just one target on her way to the gold. She playfully stuck out her tongue at the TV cameras Saturday, as she crossed the line in 31 minutes, 7.7 seconds. Pyleva said she would have been happy with any medal, so winning a gold was wonderful. Kati Wilhelm of Germany won the silver, 5.3 seconds back while Irina Nikoultchina of Bulgaria took the bronze, 8.1 seconds off the winning pace. Five-time world champion Magdalena Forsberg of Sweden was in the lead until she had two misses at the final shooting station, pushing her back to a sixth-place finish. She won bronze medals in the other two women's biathlon events. MEN'S BIATHLON
Bjoerndalen began Saturday's event 29 seconds ahead of Germany's Sven Fischer, based on results from Wednesday's 10-K sprint. The Norwegian almost lost his lead after missing his first shot and having to ski a penalty loop. But the three-time Olympian made up the time on the Soldier Hollow course and cruised to a 43-second victory in a time of 32 minutes and 34.6 seconds. Raphael Poiree of France won his first-ever Olympic medal as he captured the silver, while Ricco Gross of Germany took the sixth medal of his career by winning the bronze. Some information for this report provided by AP and AFP.
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