Golden boy Gottwald lifts Austrian spirits

FELIX GOTTWALD lifted Austrian spirits by winning his country’s eighth Winter Olympics gold medal last night.

Gottwald’s victory in the nordic combined sprint was one of four gold medals on the day which saw the number of titles completed reach 58 out of 87.

Two of the others went to Germany in the women’s bobsleigh and the men’s 4x7.5kms biathlon relay with hosts Italy savouring their fourth golden moment of the Games in the men’s 1500m speedskating.

The brace of golds helped Germany maintain their narrow lead in the medals table with nine titles to eight for Austria and seven apiece for the United States and Russia.

Norway, second top country at Salt Lake City four years ago, have just two golds although their overall total of 18 medals is second only to Germany.

Gottwald’s gold was his third at the Turin Games and it gave his under-fire team a much-needed boost.

He overcame a handicap of nearly one minute in the cross-country race leaving Magnus Moan of Norway to take silver.

But Gottwald could not escape the fallout from the two drug raids carried out by police on the living quarters of the Austrian biathlon and cross-country teams.

Those were ordered following a tip-off that banned coach Walter Mayer had once again been collaborating with his former charges.

“I have my own coach, I don’t need a coach like Walter Mayer,” said Gottwald, angrily rejecting any connection with the disgraced ex-trainer.

The row rumbled on regardless with the Austrian team riven by claim and counter-claim and the rest of the Games left bemused and increasingly sceptical.

Both Germany’s titles were won comfortably.

Ricco Gross, Michael Roesch, Sven Fischer and Michael Greis powered to their biathlon relay title thanks to some remarkable skiing and a near-faultless display of marksmanship.

The silver went to Russia and the bronze to France in an action-packed photo finish with surprise package Sweden.

“I was really nervous before I started,” said anchor-leg Greis. “But I tried to stay cool and I managed it. After the second shooting I was so glad. I think Germany competed as a team.”

In the women’s bobsleigh Sandra Kiriasis tumbled on to the ice in relief and hugged brakeman Anja Schneiderheinze after securing victory with the final run’s fastest time, 57.71 sec, for a four-heat total of 3:49.98.

There was also joy for America as Shauna Rohbock and Valerie Fleming took silver, the country’s first sliding medal of these Olympics, and for Italy as Gerda Weissensteiner and Jennifer Isacco claimed bronze.

The men’s 1500m speed skating had been billed as a showdown between warring Americans Chad Hedrick and Shani Davis.

Instead it turned into a joyous coronation for Italys’ Enrico Fabris who sped past them both for gold in 1:45.97, 0.16secs ahead of Davis and with world record-holder Hedrick third in 1:46.22.

Fabris won his second title of the Games, while the bitterness and anger between Davis and Hedrick boiled over in a tense post-race news conference.

“They are two great champions. I have beaten two of the best skaters in the world,” Fabris said. “I think every athlete who wins a gold medal is surprised but I knew I was skating fast so I’m not surprised about that.”