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Biathletes win two Olympic medals for Belarus

Belarusian biathletes Darya Domrachava (Domracheva) and Syarhey Novikaw (Novikov) won two medals at the Vancouver Olympics on Thursday, BelaPAN said.

The 23-year-old Domrachava finished third in the women's 15 kilometers individual, while Mr. Novikaw, 30, shared the silver medal with Norway's star Ole Einar Bjoerndalen in the men's 20-kilometer race.

Ms. Domrachava, who missed one shot, trailed winner Tora Berger of Norway and Kazakhstan's Yelena Khrustalyova (Elena Khrustaleva), who formerly competed for Belarus.

None of the four Belarusian biathletes was outside the top 30 as a result of the women's race. Lyudmila Kalinchyk finished ninth, while Volha Kudrashova came 16th and Nadzeya Skardzina was 28th.

Mr. Novikaw finished slightly more than nine seconds behind Norway's Emil Hegle Svendsen, who took the gold, and shared the second place with biathlon great Ole Einar Bjoerndalen.

Alyaksandr Syman of Belarus finished 41st, while Rustam Valiulin was 48th and Yawhen Abramenka was 58th.

The bronze and the silver became the seventh and eight medal earned by Belarus at a winter Olympics since its debut as an independent state at the Lillehammer Games in 1994. Two of the six medals earned by Belarus before the Vancouver Games were won by biathletes - one by Svyatlana Paramyhina in 1994 and the other by Alyaksey Aydaraw in 1998.

The country won two silver medals at the 1994 Games, two bronze medals at the 1998 Olympics, one bronze at the 2002 Olympics and one silver at the Turin Olympics in 2006.

Ms. Domrachava is to receive $30,000 for the bronze medal from the Belarusian government, while Mr. Novikaw is eligible for $50,000 in prize money.

Belarus currently shares the 17th spot with Japan in the Vancouver Olympics medals table.