Golden again

Snowboarder gets medal back; Norwegians make history

Posted: Thu February 12, 1998 at 12:07 PM ET

The Committee for the Arbitration for Sport said the lack of a judicial framework made it improper for the IOC to strip Rebagliati of the gold   Shaun Botterill/Allsport

NAGANO, Japan (CNN/SI) -- Canadian snowboarder Ross Rebagliati got his gold medal back Thursday, ending two days of drug suspensions and appeals at the Olympic Games.

And as Rebagliati regained his medal, others moved to solidify their places in Olympic history.

Norway's Bjorn Daehlie earned his sixth Winter Games gold, an Olympic Winter Games record. Countryman Adne Sondral set a world record in the 1,500-meter speed skating event and Russia's Larissa Lazutina became the first double gold medalist in Nagano when she held off compatriot Olga Danilova to take the 10-kilometer cross-country pursuit.

The day's action centered, though, on a panel of arbitrators, who ruled there was no legal ground to strip Rebagliati of the sport's first Olympic gold. The International Olympic Committee took his medal away when he tested positive for marijuana -- even though marijuana is not a banned substance because it is not considered performance enhancing.

"The athlete will keep his medal," said Jean Philippe Rochat, secretary general of the Committee for the Arbitration for Sport. "It's purely the legal issue." Rochat said the lack of a clear judicial framework made it improper for the IOC to strip Rebagli ati of the gold. The IOC cannot appeal.

Daehlie withstood rain and sleet to become the first male with six Winter Olympic gold medals, winning the 10-kilometer classical cross-country race on a day when weird weather again plagued the Games.

The men's downhill race, the premiere Alpine skiing event, again was postponed, as was the downhill portion of the Nordic combined. Steady rain and lightning forced postponement of training runs in the bobsled, too, where water poured down the course.

None of it bothered Daehlie, who celebrated his first gold here after three cross-country golds at Albertville in 1992 and two golds at Lillehammer four years ago.

In a steady rain, Daehlie beat Austria's Markus Gandler and Finland's Mika Myllylae, the winner of the 30-kilometer race Monday.

Daehlie had finished an embarrassing 20th in the 30-kiklometer, a victim of faulty waxing that left him plowing through the Snow Harp course.

"I was worried about the conditions and I couldn't find the right skis. I couldn't be sure of anything. I was worried when I saw rain," he said.

Daehlie now has more gold medals than anyone, ahead of speed skaters Eric Heiden of the United States and A. Clas Thunberg of Finland, who have five career golds. Thunberg won his between 1924-28 and Heiden's triumphs came in 1980.

Daehlie is tied with Russian speed skater Lydia Skoblikova and Russian cross-country skier Lyubov Egorova as the winningest Winter Games competitors of all time. Daehlie is entered in three more cross-country races.

The 30-year-old Daehlie showed a heart-warming degree of sportsmanship, too, when he waited around more than 20 minutes after the race to embrace the final finisher, Kenya's Phillip Boit.

It took Lazutina three Olympics to win her first individual gold medal. Now, she's collected two golds and a silver in five days. She has two more races on her schedule.

Skating in the shadow of the great Johann-Olav Koss for much of his career, Sondral emerged to shatter the world record -- and the Dutch hopes for dominance in men's speed skating -- in winning the gold medal in the 1,500 meters.

"I've been dreaming of a medal as long as I can remember," Sondral said. "It feels good around my neck."

Ilya Kulik performs his routine in the short program Jamie Squire/Allsport

In the inaugural halfpipe snowboard competition, Gian Simmen of Switzerland and Nicola Thost won gold, the latter giving Germany a leading 12th medal, including four gold.

Norway surged into second place with nine medals, just ahead of Russia with seven.

The day also marked the beginning of the men's figure skating competition. Russia's Ilya Kulik, Canada's Elvis Stojko and American Todd Eldredge were close enough after their short program Thursday night that if any of them wins the free skate Saturday, the gold is his. Kulik won first-place votes from four of the nine judges, Stojko was favored by two and Eldredge by three.

Much of the news Thursday, though, still focused on the weather. Some feared that if the unpredictable weather continued, officials might be forced to cancel some races.

Said Gian Franco Kasper, secretary-general of the international ski federation: "As long as the Olympic flame is burning, we can reschedule races."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.