Bjoerndalen equals all-time winter medal record

Bjoerndalen equals all-time winter medal record

Norwegian biathlete Ole Einar Bjoerndalen made a mockery of his 40 years on Saturday to equal the record for Winter Olympic medals when victory in the sprint in Sochi took him to 12 for his career.

Norway's Ole Einar Bjoerndalen competes in the Men's Biathlon 10 km Sprint at the Laura Cross-Country Ski and Biathlon Center during the Sochi Winter Olympics on February 8, 2014 in Rosa Khutor

The veteran went level with compatriot Bjorn Daehlie, who gathered 12 medals in Olympic cross country, and also became the oldest gold medallist in an individual event in Games history.

Bjoerndalen finished in 24min 33.5sec ahead of Austria's Dominik Landertinger, in 24:34.8sec, and Jaroslav Soukup of the Czech Republic, who clocked 24:39.2.

It was Bjoerndalen's seventh Olympic gold to add to his four silver and one bronze and was achieved in his sixth Olympic Games.

In the aftermath of the race, Daehlie told reporters that Bjoerndalen was comfortably the greatest ever Norwegian athlete.

"It is nice to hear that from Bjorn, but for me he still is the biggest star in Norway and in the world," said the champion who won despite having been forced to undertake a penalty loop after missing the target in the shooting section of the event.

"It is always difficult to compare results because he raced many years ago and it was a different time. Nowadays, we have many more competitions than he had back then. For me, he continues to be the best athlete."

The man nicknamed "The Cannibal", who has devoured 19 world championship titles, also put his critics firmly in their place on Saturday after he was written off four years ago.

Despite winning a lone gold in Vancouver in 2010 in the relay event, he had swept four gold in four events in Salt Lake City eight years earlier.

"Life is too short to give up. You always need to keep going on. I had some bad years with a lot of problems, but my motivation was never an issue," said Bjoerndalen.

"I was able to go on and do my training day after day. That was the most important thing and that is probably the reason why I am here today."

He added that he will not be around to compete in 2022 even if Oslo wins the bid to host the Games.

"I have many reasons to retire, so I will for sure not be in Oslo. Petter Northug said that he wants to work in a garage to take care of old cars that come to Oslo," he said, referring to to the Norwegian cross-country skiing star.

"Maybe I will just work with him."

Bjoerndalen could still add to his medal tally and become the all-time greatest winter Olympian as he will be favourite entering the men's 12.5km pursuit on Monday.

He is also likely to feature in the men's relay and the mixed relay.

Meanwhile, France's Martin Fourcade, the leader of the overall World Cup standings, endured another miserable Olympic experience with the 25-year-old down in sixth place.

Fourcade, 25, is a five-time world championship gold medallist and two-time overall World Cup champion who is comfortably on his way to a third title.

But his only Olympic medal so far is a silver from the mass start race in Vancouver.

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