Winter Olympics: Dominator keeps Russians in check

AFTER knocking out the United States and Canada, two of the favourites, a Czech Republic side led by the Dominator, their goaltender Dominik Hasek, beat the perennial power of Olympic ice hockey, Russia, 1-0 for the last of the Nagano Games' 68 gold medals.

And this was a tournament where every nation was at its strongest. For the first time, North America's National Hockey League closed down during the two weeks of the Olympics to let its stars play for their countries.

Given Hasek's stone-wall goaltending - just six goals allowed in six games - it may not have been a surprise that the Czechs finally won their first Olympic hockey gold.

Hasek, meanwhile, had plenty of nervous energy left for celebrations. "When the game ended, I just threw my stick and I think I hurt one of my teammates," he said. "I was so happy. When I saw the flag go up, I saw my whole career flash before my eyes from the first time my parents took me to a hockey game until now."

There was another deeper meaning as well. One Czech player, Jaromir Jagr, wears the No 68 jersey as a reminder of the Spring of 1968, when Russian tanks rolled into Prague.

The political climate has changed since then, but there was no less thrill in beating the Russians, whose Soviet predecessors had won the hockey gold in eight of the last 10 Olympics.

"It means a lot to them," Petr Svoboda, who scored the lone goal with 11min 52sec to play, said of his countrymen in Eastern Europe. "They're a small country, but a proud country." It also was the Czechs' only gold medal of the Nagano Games.

At the top of the standings were Germany, with 12 golds and 29 medals in all. Norway, coming within one silver medal of matching their success at home in Lillehammer in 1994, had 10 golds among 25 medals. Russia followed with nine golds among 18 medals.

Based on form, it also may not have been a surprise that Norway's Bjorn Daehlie won the final day's only other gold medal contest, a 50 kilometres cross-country ski race.

After all, Daehlie already had won the 10km and shared in the 40km relay victory, bringing his gold medal total for three Olympics to seven - more than any other winter athlete ever. Nevertheless, Daehlie was not expecting to win the gold.

Canada and the United States each had six golds and the hosts, Japan, celebrated their most successful Winter Games with five golds. Never before had they won more than one gold in a Winter Olympics.

Austria won only three gold medals but gave the games the Herminator, the daredevil skier Hermann Maier.