It’s Bjorn Again, For 8th Time Persistent, Relentless Norwegian Dahlie Breaks Record For Medals

Bjorn again and again and again.

Norway’s Bjorn Dahlie etched another mark in the Winter Olympics record book Saturday, coming from behind to win the men’s 50-kilometer freestyle gold medal at the Snow Harp cross-country course.

Dahlie increased his totals to eight gold medals and 12 overall, both Winter Olympics records. Dahlie wound up with four Nagano medals, including golds in the 10-kilometer classical race and 4x10-kilometer free-style relay. He also earned a silver in the 15-kilometer freestyle, finishing behind teammate Thomas Alsgaard, who was fifth Saturday.

Trailing the leaders by about half a minute through the first half of the race, Dahlie caught Austria’s Christian Hoffman near the 42-kilometer mark and went on to win by more than 8 seconds.

Dahlie, 30, “ski-skated” the approximately 31 miles in 2 hours, 5 minutes, 8.2 seconds on the final day of the Nagano Olympics. Niklas Johnson of Sweden also closed with a rush, finishing 8.1 seconds behind Dahlie. Hoffman salvaged the bronze medal, 53.6 seconds off the pace. Russia’s Alexei Prokurorov, who led through the first third of the race, was fourth, 1:33.3 behind Dahlie.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been so tired in my life,” said Dahlie, who collapsed at the finish and was treated briefly by medics.

With a staggered start of 30 seconds between racers, Dahlie was third on the course. His time at 16.7 kilometers - a third of the way through the race - was 33.2 seconds off the 39:18.7 turned in by Prokurorov. Hoffman was just 3.7 seconds behind the Russian.

At the 30K mark, Hoffman was 7.3 seconds ahead of Prokurorov. Dahlie had moved up from sixth place to fourth, but was still 28.5 seconds off the pace.

But at 41.9K, Hoffman’s lead was virtually wiped out, Dahlie just two tenths of a second behind. Jonsson was in pursuit and briefly caught Dahlie with about 2K to go.

“I was skiing for the silver,” Jonsson said.

From there, the Norwegian pulled away.

“I’m in awe,” said Marcus Nash, the top American finisher (2:17.37.8, 35th place). “People talk about Michael Jordan. Michael Jordan’s a great basketball player. But he’s no Bjorn Dahlie when it comes to perseverance.

“People make a big deal about Michael Jordan playing with the flu in the NBA finals last year. Big deal. Bjorn Dahlie could come out here and break a rib in this race and he’d still finish.”