ROUNDUP | Thursday's events

Biathlon
Russia upset two-time defending Olympic champion Germany in the women's 4x6km biathlon relay, and they did it without banished star Olga Pyleva. Anna Bogaliy started in place of Pyleva, the only athlete caught so far in the tightest drug net in Winter Olympics history. Bogaliy gave her team a big lead at the first exchange and the Russians never trailed. With target shooting so precise that the powerhouse Germans had no real chance to close the gap, Bogaliy, Svetlana Ishmouratova, Olga Zaitseva and Albina Akhatova covered the San Sicario course in 1 hour, 16 minutes, 12.5 seconds. Germany's star-studded team of Martina Glagow, Andrea Henkel, Katrin Apel and Kati Wilhelm -- but which didn't include Uschi Disl, second in the World Cup standings -- finished 50.7 seconds behind for the silver, and France overtook Belarus for the bronze. The Americans took 15th place, finishing more than 9 minutes off the pace in Rachel Steer's final Olympic race. America's best female biathlete, Steer is retiring at age 28 after the World Cup season concludes next month. Bringing back three of the four biathletes from the gold-medal winning 2002 team, the Germans were the favorite to capture this event again, especially after Pyleva was throw out of the games and stripped of her silver medal last week for using a banned stimulant.
Curling
The Swedish women's team rock 'n' rolled its way to another heavy medal -- this one Olympic gold. Stars of a head-banging, leather-and-chains music video back home, the Swedes played a conservative game to beat Switzerland 7-6 with a double-takeout on the last stone of an extra end. Earlier, Canada beat Norway 11-5 in eight ends to take the bronze. Switzerland rallied from a 6-4 deficit in the 10th and final end of regulation to force the extra end, or inning. In the 11th, Switzerland put one stone in the middle and piled guards in front of it before Swedish second Cathrine Lindahl took out two stones with one shot to get the edge back. Mirjam Ott curled her first stone -- Switzerland's second-to-last of the game -- around a guard, but it didn't get inside the Swedish one that was sitting on the lip of the red 4-foot circle. For their last chance, the Swiss talked over their options and Ott knocked Sweden out of the zone. The Swiss called timeout. The crowd made some noise. And then it fell quiet again. Swedish skip Anette Norberg let go of the hammer and knocked away both Swiss rocks for the victory. Sweden won the bronze medal in Nagano, when it was promoted to full Olympic status. Norberg was an alternate on the team that won the curling silver when it was a demonstration sport in Calgary in 1988. Ott gets a second Olympic silver to go with the one she earned as the third in Salt Lake City. But she's still looking up at the Swedes, who have won the last six European titles -- beating Switzerland each of the last three years. Canada's medal was the nation's second straight bronze in women's curling.
The Swedish women's team rock 'n' rolled its way to another heavy medal -- this one Olympic gold. Stars of a head-banging, leather-and-chains music video back home, the Swedes played a conservative game to beat Switzerland 7-6 with a double-takeout on the last stone of an extra end. Earlier, Canada beat Norway 11-5 in eight ends to take the bronze. Switzerland rallied from a 6-4 deficit in the 10th and final end of regulation to force the extra end, or inning. In the 11th, Switzerland put one stone in the middle and piled guards in front of it before Swedish second Cathrine Lindahl took out two stones with one shot to get the edge back. Mirjam Ott curled her first stone -- Switzerland's second-to-last of the game -- around a guard, but it didn't get inside the Swedish one that was sitting on the lip of the red 4-foot circle. For their last chance, the Swiss talked over their options and Ott knocked Sweden out of the zone. The Swiss called timeout. The crowd made some noise. And then it fell quiet again. Swedish skip Anette Norberg let go of the hammer and knocked away both Swiss rocks for the victory. Sweden won the bronze medal in Nagano, when it was promoted to full Olympic status. Norberg was an alternate on the team that won the curling silver when it was a demonstration sport in Calgary in 1988. Ott gets a second Olympic silver to go with the one she earned as the third in Salt Lake City. But she's still looking up at the Swedes, who have won the last six European titles -- beating Switzerland each of the last three years. Canada's medal was the nation's second straight bronze in women's curling.
Freestyle skiing
As promised, Jeret "Speedy" Peterson tried his trademark trick -- the Hurricane -- on the aerials course, but a bobble on the landing did him in. He finished seventh on a night when the world's best simply weren't making mistakes. Han Xiaopeng of China won gold, Dmitri Dashinski of Belarus took silver and Vladimir Lebedev of Russia won bronze after coming in as only the 30th-ranked aerialist in the world. Thus ended a disappointing Olympics for the American freestyle team on the mountain. After winning three golds in 1998 and three silvers in 2002, the entire team leaves Italy with only one medal -- the bronze won by Toby Dawson in men's moguls.
Associated Press