China and Australia come out of the cold storage

SALT LAKE CITY, FEBRUARY 16: China, the world’s most populous country, won its first ever Winter Olympics gold medal on Saturday just minutes after Australia’s debut gold climaxed one of the most extraordinary races in short track speedskating history.

The long-awaited re-run of the 1980 Olympics "Miracle on Ice", won by the United States, ended with the host nation drawing 2-2 with Russia in the ice hockey tournament.

Yang Yang (A)’s victory in the 500 metres short track event ended a run of 10 silvers and four bronzes for China which began in the Albertville Games of 1992.

China’s Yang Yang celebrates the gold medal she won in the 500m short track event. (Reuters)

The gold medal marks another milestone in a breakthrough 12 months for China on the sporting stage, coming on the heels of Beijing’s selection to host the 2008 Summer Olympics and the country qualifying for soccer’s World Cup for the first time. Australia have won only three winter medals (a gold and two bronze). Steven Bradbury figures in two of them - he was a member of the short track relay team that took bronze at the 1994 Games and on Saturday he won the 1,000 metres.

Fifty metres from the end of the race Bradbury was a complete outsider for a medal, let alone gold. But the four leaders tangled on the final corner and Bradbury cruised past the melee to victory.

American Apolo Anton Ohno, who had been leading, desperately tried to get his skate across the line ahead of Bradbury and eventually salvaged a silver. Mathieu Turcotte of Canada, also scrambling off the ice, took bronze.

Gerard van Velde celebrates their gold winning efforts.

The U.S.-Russia ice hockey tie means little for either team as the three games in the round only determine the seedings for the quarter-finals beginning on Wednesday, but Cold War memories meant neither wanted to lose the game.

The Americans, whose 1980 gold medal heroes lit the flame at the Games’ opening ceremony, tied the game when Detroit Red Wings’ Brett Hull one-timed a pass from Dallas Stars team mate Mike Modano past the Russian goalie.

As the Winter Olympics reached their halfway point, two history-making Norwegians and one record-breaking Dutch speedskater proved that age was no barrier to a gold medal.

Kjetil Andre Aamodt won his second gold of the Games in the super-G, Norway’s seventh in Salt Lake City. A champion as far back as 1992 in Albertville, the 30-year-old now has seven Olympic medals, a record for Alpine skiing.

Ole Einar Bjoerndalen, 28, is proving to be as dominant as his rivals feared on the biathlon course in Soldiers Hollow and he became the first to capture three golds in the discipline at a single Games when he won the 12.5 km pursuit.

Natalia Orekhova of Russia twists through her jump during the qualifying round in women's freestyle skiing aerials. (Reuters)

Norway lead the medals table and have two more golds than Germany with Russia third - the same three nations that topped the table at the end of the Nagano Games in 1998.

At 30, Gerard van Velde probably feared his best days were behind him when he came to the Games but he produced the race of his life to win the 1,000 metres speedskating.

Van Velde broke down in tears of joy after he realised he had also broken the world record. "The Olympic title, such a fabulous world record, this is really unbelievable," he said.

The figure skating scandal, which dominated the first week of the 17-day Games, rumbled on ahead of Monday’s key meeting of the International Skating Union (ISU) to discuss the judging of the pairs competition.

The International Olympic Committee, whose pressure forced the ISU to suspend a French judge in the competition, said Canadians Jamie Sale and David Pelletier would receive their duplicate gold medals on Sunday.

The skaters have given back the silver medals they were awarded behind Russians Yelena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze on Monday.

The Russians remain angry about it all and their Olympic Chief accused American and Canadian media of a smear campaign causing "moral damage" to Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze. (Reuters)