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20.02.2006 - Gutsy Russians Ski to Cross-Country Gold

russian version

Gutsy Russians Ski to Cross-Country Gold

Yevgenia Medvedeva-Abruzova was tapped on the shoulder by teammate Yulia Chepalova for the final exchange, and they briefly made eye contact.

The Russians knew they were back in the race. Medvedeva-Abruzova then had the huge task of making up 12 1/2 seconds on the leading Germans. She used a gutsy final leg in challenging conditions to take control, then skated all alone through the final stretch of the stadium to lift Russia to gold in the women's 4 x 5-kilometer relay Saturday.

"I must say when I was watching the first and second legs, I thought in the very best case we could hope for third place," Yevgenia Medvedeva-Abruzova said.

"At the handover, I realized she was already in third place. We made eye contact, and she gave me all her force, and then I gave all my force."

Light snowfall for the second straight day in the Italian Alps again made for tough conditions for wax technicians, but it didn't stop the Russians from regaining their supremacy in the relay event.

Russia or the Soviet Union has won five of the last six Olympic women's relay events. Claudia Kuenzel of defending champion Germany dropped out of the top three after giving up the lead, but fought back to cross second for the silver, 10 seconds behind Russia's winning time of 54 minutes, 47.7 seconds.

"For us to win at the Olympic Games is a very great achievement because it brings us back to the old times when we were also winning," said Chepalova, in second place in the World Cup standings. "Today's race was very difficult, especially at the beginning. The first two legs were a catastrophe."

Italy came in 1 second after Germany to take the bronze, keeping the favored Norwegians off the podium.

Germany's Evi Sachenbacher pulled away in the third leg and gave her team a respectable lead going into the last leg, but Kuenzel couldn't keep up with Medvedeva-Abruzova's all-out effort.

The Russian blew kisses to the crowd before crossing the finish line. Kuenzel was caught by the pack about 2.5 kilometers from the end, but with 1 kilometer to go she recovered to edge out Italy's Sabina Valbusa for silver.

Janie McCauley

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