Italian woman wins first gold of Games

Associated Press

A pair of silver goggles concealed Stefania Belmondo’s tears twice Saturday.

The Italian cried during and after the women’s 15-kilometer freestyle cross-country race.

And she will always remember both.

Belmondo won the first gold medal of the Winter Olympics, taking the women’s 15-kilometer race in 39 minutes, 54.4 seconds. Larissa Lazutina of Russia took the silver in 39:56.2 and Katerina Neumannova of the Czech Republic won the bronze in 40:01.3.

“I am very, very happy,” said Belmondo, who won her second gold medal in what might be her last Olympics. “It’s incredible. It’s such a wonderful feeling.”

Americans Nina Kemppel, Barbara Jones and Kristina Joder were 30th, 44th and 54th, respectively. Kemppel finished nearly three minutes behind Belmondo.

In the men’s 30-kilometer race, Johann Muehlegg of Spain broke away early and cruised to his first gold medal in one hour, nine minutes, 28.9 seconds. Christian Hoffmann of Austria took the silver in 1:11.31.0, and Mikhail Botvinov, another Austrian, won the bronze in 1:11.32.3.

Muehlegg set an impressive pace from the start, leading a five-man breakaway group at the 6.2-kilometer mark. He pulled away from there.

“My plan was to force the pace during the first few laps and pull away from my rivals, and I did it,” said Muehlegg, a German-born skier who sought and attained Spanish citizenship after a 1998 dispute with the German ski federation.

Per Elofsson of Sweden, the overwhelming favorite for the gold, skied deep in the pack and retired at the halfway mark after trailing Muehlegg by more than 2 minutes.

“I had rubber legs halfway through the race,” Elofsson said.

Andrew Johnson led the way for the Americans, finishing 22nd, while Lars Flora and Carl Swenson were 56th and 58th, respectively. Justin Wadsworth did not finish.

Drexel University professor Prawat Nagvajara suffered the same fate. The 43-year-old engineering professor – the first Thai athlete to participate in the Winter Games – pulled out before the 15-kilometer mark.

Nordic combined: A pair of Americans, Todd Lodwick and Bill Demong, logged top 10 finishes to raise hopes for the first-ever U.S. medal in the Nordic combined.

After the ski-jump portion of the two-day event, Lodwick was seventh and Demong eighth. Part II – the 15-kilometer freestyle skiing race – is scheduled for today.

Lodwick will start 2 minutes, 15 seconds behind leader Jaakko Tallus of Finland, while Demong will begin the race 2:20 back.

Lodwick, 25, of Steamboat Springs, Colo., remains the best American hope for a medal in his third Olympics. He finished 14th in Lillehammer and 20th in Nagano.

The highest American finish ever in the Nordic combined was ninth by Rolf Monsen in 1932.

Men’s hockey: Oleg Mikulchik, who last played in the NHL six years ago, scored the only goal on a two-man power play as Belarus beat Ukraine 1-0 to start the Olympic hockey preliminary round. In other first-round action, Germany blanked Slovakia, 3-0, and Latvia defeated Austria, 4-2.

TV ratings: The opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics was a ratings smash – the highest-rated ever, with more than 72 million Americans tuning in.

The NBC broadcast of Friday night’s ceremony drew a 25.5 national rating and a 42 share, according to Nielsen Media Research. Translation: 25.5 percent of all U.S. TV homes and 42 percent of TVs that were on were tuned to NBC.

Friday’s rating was 57 percent higher than NBC’s number for Sydney’s opening ceremony, and 49 percent higher than CBS got for the 1998 Winter Games in Nagano, Japan.