BIATHLON

RUSSIAN BIATHLETE STRIPPED OF MEDAL FOR DOPING Russian biathlete Olga Pyleva was thrown out of the Olympics and stripped of her silver medal yes terday for failing a drug test, the first athlete caught for doping at the Turin Games Pyleva, who won silver at the 15km event Monday, was scratched just before the start of yesterday’s 7.5km sprint,in which she was considered a leading contender She also won gold and bronze medals at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games.

A hastily-convened, three-member IOC panel found Pyleva guilty of a doping violation. She had tested positive for the banned stimulant carphedon in a urine test following Monday’s race. Nikolai Durmanov, head of the Russian Anti-Doping Committee, said a doctor who treated her for an ankle injury in January gave her an over-the-counter medication that did not list carphedon as one of its ingredi ents. “This was 100% the physician’s mistake,” Durmanov said.

Martina Glagow of Germany, who finished with bronze, will be awarded the silver.Albina Akhatova,Pyleva’s Russian teammate, goes from fourth to bronze

Further possible sanctions – such as a long-term ban from competition – are up to the International Biathlon Union.Under the IOC’s rules, athletes testing pos itive at the Olympics are considered guilty if a banned substance is found in their systems, regardless of the circumstances. The IOC has conducted 380 tests since the athletes’ village opened January 31; Pyleva is the first to be caught by the IOC’s most rigorous doping control program ever at a Winter Olympics. A total of 1,200 samples are being tested,a 72% increase over the number in Salt Lake City,where there were seven doping cases total.

FIGURE SKATING

PLUSHENKO SECURES FIFTH STRAIGHT RUSSIAN GOLD Evgeni Plushenko posted his score, then watched the other Olympic contenders crash and burn. The three-time world champion took few chances, yet still managed another personal best last night to grab the fifth straight Olympic gold medal for a Russian/Soviet man. He pretty much owned that when he showed up in Turin, and the field couldn’t come close to measuring up.

World champion Stephane Lambiel of Switzerland won silver and Jeff Buttle of Canada got bronze, although both struggled. American champion Johnny Weir, who fell out of medal contention with a cautious program filled with errors, stormed out of the rink when his mediocre marks were shown. He finished fifth.

Skating slowly and without any sign of emotion, Plushenko still was far too good for the rest of the field, finishing with a score of 167.67 points in the free skate – an incredible 27.12 points in front of Lambiel. All of his main rivals skated after him in the final group and, one by one, they fell short. He opened with a quadruple toe loop-triple toedouble loop combination, followed with a triple axel-double toe. All he had to do after that was stay on his feet.

Plushenko even stuck around to view the work of Lambiel and Weir, who was second after the short program. The Russian had nothing to worry about, easily adding gold to the silver he won four years ago in Salt Lake City.

Weir two-footed a triple axel, had a shaky landing on a triple lutz, did a sloppy triple flip, and spun as though he didn’t really want to turn. With only one combination jump, his medal chances flew away and he was sixth in the free skate.That allowed Lysacek to soar past him, from 10th to fourth.

SNOWBOARDING

WESCOTT BECOMES FIRST OLYMPIC CHAMPION IN SNOWBOARDCROSS

American Seth Wescott used a sweet little slide move to nudge into first place and become the first Olympic champion in the wild sport of snowboardcross. Some said snowboardcross resembled NASCAR on icy snow, with four riders at a time vying for space, pushing and shoving through the tight corners on the 3,100 foot-long course. But not even NASCAR would allow some of the things that happened over these 90-minutes of side-by-side racing.

Wescott won by being able to stay out of any messes over his four trips down the slope. In the final heat, he took the lead over silver medalist Radoslav Zidek of Slovakia with a deft passing move in the middle of the course and led the rest of the way, barely beating Zidek past the finish line. Paul-Henri Delerue of France took bronze.

SPEEDSKATING

ITALIANS RIDE CROWRD SUPPORT TO SURPRISE GOLD The Italian men sent the home crowd into a frenzy at the speedskating oval by winning the first gold medal in men’s team pursuit, defeating Canada in the final after upsetting the United States and the Netherlands. The Dutch came back to claim a bronze with a win over Norway in the third-place race.

The Italians caught a break against the favored Dutch when 5,000-meter silver medalist Sven Kramer crashed on a turn and took out Carl Verheijen as well with three of the eight laps remaining in the semifinal race.

On Wednesday, Italy defeated the United States in the quarterfinals, denying Chad Hedrick a chance to equal Eric Heiden’s record of five gold medals.

In the women’s competition, the powerful German team, led by Anni Friesinger and Claudia Pechstein, lived up to its role as favorite and beat Canada to win the women’s team pursuit. Russia took bronze. Friesinger and Pechstein were joined on the winning team by Daniela Anschuetz Thoms.

SKELETON

PEDERSON WINS SWITZERLAND’S FIRST GOLD Switzerland’s Maya Pedersen, who parked her sled to become a mother two years ago, is now an Olympic champion after winning her country’s first gold medal of the Turin Games in women’s skeleton. Showing zero fear in a headfirst, freezing freefall down one of the world’s fastest sliding tracks, Pedersen completed her two runs in 1 minute, 59.83 seconds, an astonishing 1.23 seconds ahead of Shelley Rudman of Britain – the first medal of these games for the Brits. Canada’s Mellisa Hollingsworth-Richards won the bronze.

NORDIC CROSS COUNTRY

SMIGUM WINS SECOND GOLD OF GAMES Estonia’s Kristina Smigun watched World Cup leader Marit Bjorgen collapse across the finish line, glanced at the time, then raised her arms and screamed for joy in celebration of her second Olympic gold medal of these games. Smigun took the lead by the 7km mark in the interval-start women’s 10km classical cross-country race, earning her second individual gold in as many events. She won the 15km pursuit Sunday. She finished in 27 minutes, 51.4 seconds, a commanding 21.3 seconds ahead of silver medalist Bjorgen of Norway.Hilde Pedersen of Norway took the bronze.Pedersen, 41, became the oldest woman to win a medal at an Olympic Winter Games.

NORDIC COMBINED

STECHER LEADS AUSTRIA TO TEAM TITLE Mario Stecher erased a 20-second deficit during the final leg of the cross-country relay race to lead Austria to the Olympic gold medal in the Nordic combined team event, which had been delayed a day because of high winds.In a thrilling finish,Stecher overtook Germany’s Jens Gaiser midway through the last leg of the 4x5km cross-country race. Austria won in 49 minutes, 52.6 seconds. Germany was 15.3 seconds behind to take the silver. Defending champion Finland won the bronze, 26.8 seconds back of Austria.

Germany had a 10-second lead over Austria after the wind-delayed second jump and led for most of the cross-country race.

CURLING

SWITZERLAND DOWNS CANADA Swiss skip Mirjam Ott scored on her last stone in the 10th and final end to beat Canada 6-5 in the Olympic curling tournament. Switzerland (3-1) scored three in the fourth end to take a 3-1 lead, but Canada (2-2) tied it in the fifth.The Swiss couldn’t take advantage of the hammer – or last rock – for an empty end in the sixth, then Canada stole a point in the seventh – essentially breaking serve – to go up 4-3.

Switzerland scored two in the eighth to take a 5-4 lead.When Canada scored one in the ninth, it was all down to the final end. Ott had an open look at the button – the middle of the target – with her final rock.

In other games, Sweden (3-1) beat Italy (1-3) 8-4, Denmark (2-2) beat Japan (1-3) 9-5, and Britain (3-1) beat Russia (1-3) 10-4.

– Associated Press