Brilliant Bjoerndalen anchors Norway to team biathlon gold

From Sportsbeat Staff, in Whistler

OLE Einar Bjoerndalen became the second most decorated Winter Olympian of all time as he anchored Norway to 4x7.5km biathlon relay gold in Vancouver.

CLASSY FINISH: Legend Ole Einar Bjoerndalen brings the curtain down on the Vancouver biathlon competition with an equisite finish in the 4x7.5km relay (Getty Images)

The 36-year old, who also struck silver in the 20km individual race, collected his 11th Olympic medal - and sixth gold - after leading his country home in 1:21:38.1 hours.

The Norwegian was neck-and-neck with Austria's 12.5km pursuit silver medallist Christoph Sumann as he started his final leg but a disastrous prone shoot from the Austrian saw Bjoerndalen ski clear.

Just one shoot remained between Bjoerndalen and gold and while the veteran had been far from perfect on the range in the individual races, this time he was perfect.

The script couldn't have been written better for the Norwegian.

Five shots, five targets hit - it was a fitting finish of the biathlon competition by the man who became the most celebrated Olympic biathlete of all time with his performance in Vancouver.

The crown prince of Norwegian biathlon Emil Helge Svendsen played his part again, capturing his third medal of the Games, as did opening leg skiers Halvard Hanevold and Tarjei Boe.

But it was the undisputed king who took the plaudits in Whistler Olympic Park as Bjoerndalen moved one medal behind the most successful Winter Olympian of all time, Norwegian cross country skier Bjoern Daehlie.

And while the veteran admitted it was a special feeling anchoring the winning team, he insisted it was more important

"This feeling is good, but the most important thing is that the team won today," said Bjoerndalen.

"My shooting was fantastic, I went fast and skied great. Of course I'm really satisfied with my race - it was perfect.

"I went at my maximum but I was just doing my job. That's me and that's what I like."

In the race for silver, Sumann staged a remarkable recovery after his poor prone shoot before outsprinting Russia's Evgeny Ustyugov by 0.2 seconds to capture his country's first men's relay Olympic medal in silver.