At the age of 40, Ole Einar Bjoerndalen has more Olympic and world championship medals than birthdays.
The Norwegian on Wednesday became the most-decorated Winter Games athlete when he won his 13th medal, a gold in the biathlon mixed relay at the Sochi Games.
The Norwegian, who made his World Cup debut in 1994, moved ahead of compatriot and cross-country skier Bjorn Daehlie’s record of 12.
He has 52 medals in world championships and Olympics, and has now matched Dahlie’s Winter Games record of eight golds.
After almost two years without an individual win, Bjoerndalen would have been forgiven for relying on the relays to add to his tally here since Norway, with Bjoerndalen in their ranks every time, have won all five world championships and Olympic relays since 2009.
Yet the soft-spoken Bjoerndalen started his Sochi campaign with gold in the 10km sprint.
Yesterday, he made no mistake on the shooting range to help Norway win the first Olympic mixed relay.
Bjoerndalen, taking part in his sixth Games, looks set to continue his harvest; Norway are the favourites to win Saturday’s relay.
His attitude is his greatest asset, according to Liv Grete, a seven-time world champion and three-time Olympic medallist, who was in the same sports school as Bjoerndalen in the early 1990s.
“We were training a lot together and we made the Norwegian team together. It was a lot of training and a lot of hard work,” Grete said.
Hard work quickly paid off for Bjoerndalen, who claimed his first World Cup win in 1996.
“At 15, he was already a professional, he was already way ahead of all the others in the way he was comprehending the sport,” Grete said.
“You have to have a huge respect for what he’s achieved, keeping the same motivation for 20 years … People just cannot imagine the amount of motivation it takes.” Martin Fourcade, twice a gold-medallist at these games, said Bjoerndalen was more than a role mode and “more of an idol” until he finally caught up to him.
“Time has no hold on his desire to compete and his motivation,” Fourcade said. “Although his results are far from his usual standards, he does not seem to wear down and still has the hunger of a young wolf,” he said.
“He keeps reinventing himself. That is why I admire him so much.”
Bjoerndalen’s capacity to maintain focus is also a huge asset.
“My best memory of him is when he won the 10km sprint at the Nagano Games,” Grete said. “He was leading and the race had been cancelled. Well, he still won it the day after.”
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Russia’s men’s hockey team ‘empty inside’ after failure in quarter-finals to Finland
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The plans by Russia’s president Vladimir Putin for a golden finish to the Sochi Olympics were ruined Wednesday night when Finland claimed a party-pooping victory over the hosts of the Winter Games in the men’s ice hockey competition.
Russia may yet finish top of the Sochi medal table, but that haul will not include gold in the sport that matters most to the country.
Finland’s clinical 3-1 quarter-final victory in front of a devastated capacity crowd at the Bolshoy Ice Dome will leave the most expensive Olympics without the show-stopping climax that Russians had ached for.
The men’s hockey gold medal will be the last decided in Sochi, handed out hours before Sunday’s closing ceremony.
“I cannot explain my feelings. Inside I am absolutely empty,” said Pavel Datsyuk, the Russia captain. “The emotion we feel right now is disappointment that we didn’t live up to the hopes placed on us.”
Russia’s ice hockey gold drought has now been extended to six Olympics after they also lost in the quarter-finals in 2010.
Putin had taken great interest in the Sochi team, suiting up for a practice session with the players and watching from the Bolshoy stands when Russia took on old Cold War rival the United States in a preliminary-round clash that was hyped as a rematch of the 1980 Lake Placid “Miracle on Ice” won by a team of US college boys. When Ilya Kovalchuk opened the scoring in the first period against Finland the futuristic arena exploded in joy. But by the time Mikael Granlund had tallied in the second to put Finland 3-1 up it seemed as if the life had been sucked out of the Bolshoy.
“I just feel empty, disappointed and empty inside,” said Sergei Bobrovski, the Russia goalie.
“It’s hard to say whether this is a maximal or minimal failure. Failure is failure. How can you measure it?”
Russia’s players were on a gold-medal mission to restore the country’s hockey honour. Now, the best they can do is seventh.
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Mia Man’s tips for fermentation
- Start with a simple recipe such as yogurt or sauerkraut
- Keep your hands and kitchen tools clean. Sanitize knives, cutting boards, tongs and storage jars with boiling water before you start.
- Mold is bad: the colour pink is a sign of mold. If yogurt turns pink as it ferments, you need to discard it and start again. For kraut, if you remove the top leaves and see any sign of mold, you should discard the batch.
- Always use clean, closed, airtight lids and containers such as mason jars when fermenting yogurt and kraut. Keep the lid closed to prevent insects and contaminants from getting in.
BACK%20TO%20ALEXANDRIA
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Result
UAE (S. Tagliabue 90 1') 1-2 Uzbekistan (Shokhruz Norkhonov 48', 86')
Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi
Director: Kangana Ranaut, Krish Jagarlamudi
Producer: Zee Studios, Kamal Jain
Cast: Kangana Ranaut, Ankita Lokhande, Danny Denzongpa, Atul Kulkarni
Rating: 2.5/5
Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Five expert hiking tips
Always check the weather forecast before setting off
Make sure you have plenty of water
Set off early to avoid sudden weather changes in the afternoon
Wear appropriate clothing and footwear
Take your litter home with you
Basquiat in Abu Dhabi
One of Basquiat’s paintings, the vibrant Cabra (1981–82), now hangs in Louvre Abu Dhabi temporarily, on loan from the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi.
The latter museum is not open physically, but has assembled a collection and puts together a series of events called Talking Art, such as this discussion, moderated by writer Chaedria LaBouvier.
It's something of a Basquiat season in Abu Dhabi at the moment. Last week, The Radiant Child, a documentary on Basquiat was shown at Manarat Al Saadiyat, and tonight (April 18) the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi is throwing the re-creation of a party tonight, of the legendary Canal Zone party thrown in 1979, which epitomised the collaborative scene of the time. It was at Canal Zone that Basquiat met prominent members of the art world and moved from unknown graffiti artist into someone in the spotlight.
“We’ve invited local resident arists, we’ll have spray cans at the ready,” says curator Maisa Al Qassemi of the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi.
Guggenheim Abu Dhabi's Canal Zone Remix is at Manarat Al Saadiyat, Thursday April 18, from 8pm. Free entry to all. Basquiat's Cabra is on view at Louvre Abu Dhabi until October
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Akeed
Based: Muscat
Launch year: 2018
Number of employees: 40
Sector: Online food delivery
Funding: Raised $3.2m since inception
NYBL PROFILE
Company name: Nybl
Date started: November 2018
Founder: Noor Alnahhas, Michael LeTan, Hafsa Yazdni, Sufyaan Abdul Haseeb, Waleed Rifaat, Mohammed Shono
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Software Technology / Artificial Intelligence
Initial investment: $500,000
Funding round: Series B (raising $5m)
Partners/Incubators: Dubai Future Accelerators Cohort 4, Dubai Future Accelerators Cohort 6, AI Venture Labs Cohort 1, Microsoft Scale-up
more from Janine di Giovanni
Company profile
Name: Steppi
Founders: Joe Franklin and Milos Savic
Launched: February 2020
Size: 10,000 users by the end of July and a goal of 200,000 users by the end of the year
Employees: Five
Based: Jumeirah Lakes Towers, Dubai
Financing stage: Two seed rounds – the first sourced from angel investors and the founders' personal savings
Second round raised Dh720,000 from silent investors in June this year
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
THE SPECS
Cadillac XT6 2020 Premium Luxury
Engine: 3.6L V-6
Transmission: nine-speed automatic
Power: 310hp
Torque: 367Nm
Price: Dh280,000
DC%20League%20of%20Super-Pets
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Mina Cup winners
Under 12 – Minerva Academy
Under 14 – Unam Pumas
Under 16 – Fursan Hispania
Under 18 – Madenat
How to apply for a drone permit
- Individuals must register on UAE Drone app or website using their UAE Pass
- Add all their personal details, including name, nationality, passport number, Emiratis ID, email and phone number
- Upload the training certificate from a centre accredited by the GCAA
- Submit their request
What are the regulations?
- Fly it within visual line of sight
- Never over populated areas
- Ensure maximum flying height of 400 feet (122 metres) above ground level is not crossed
- Users must avoid flying over restricted areas listed on the UAE Drone app
- Only fly the drone during the day, and never at night
- Should have a live feed of the drone flight
- Drones must weigh 5 kg or less
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh117,059
ULTRA PROCESSED FOODS
- Carbonated drinks, sweet or savoury packaged snacks, confectionery, mass-produced packaged breads and buns
- Margarines and spreads; cookies, biscuits, pastries, cakes, and cake mixes, breakfast cereals, cereal and energy bars
- Energy drinks, milk drinks, fruit yoghurts and fruit drinks, cocoa drinks, meat and chicken extracts and instant sauces
- Infant formulas and follow-on milks, health and slimming products such as powdered or fortified meal and dish substitutes
- Many ready-to-heat products including pre-prepared pies and pasta and pizza dishes, poultry and fish nuggets and sticks, sausages, burgers, hot dogs, and other reconstituted meat products, powdered and packaged instant soups, noodles and desserts
Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
- Join parent networks
- Look beyond school fees
- Keep an open mind
