Pairs controversy overshadowing events like Miller's medal, Ohno's debut

Thursday, February 14th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) _ Even on a day when Bode Miller stormed back from 15th to a silver and Apolo Anton Ohno began his bid for four medals, there was no escaping the dominant story of these Winter Olympics: the judging scandal in pairs skating.

The head of the French Olympic team said Wednesday night that a judge from his country was pressured to ``act in a certain way'' before she voted to give the gold to the Russians over the Canadians.

The admission came after the International Olympic Committee made the unusual move of telling the International Skating Union to settle the mess that began Monday night and settle it fast. Hours earlier, the ISU president said he received ``certain allegations'' from the American referee who oversaw the judging and that he was trying to protect the integrity of his sport.

The controversy surely will be on the minds of everyone at the Salt Lake Ice Center on Thursday night when the men's title is decided.

Earlier Thursday, the U.S. medals parade in snowboarding began to skid as star racer Rosey Fletcher failed to make the finals of the parallel giant slalom. Teammates Sondra Van Ert and Lisa Odynski also didn't advance. Lisa Kosglow was the only American to make it into the group of 16.

On the slopes, 17-year-old Americans Lindsey Kildow and Julia Mancuso were among the top 16 after the first of two slalom runs in the women's combined event. Teammate Caroline Lalive, the seventh-place finisher in 1998, fell on her run and dropped out.

The event usually starts with downhill, but high winds and fog forced a schedule change. Croatia's Janica Kostelic grabbed the early lead.

The 10-kilometer pursuit had its first leg in the morning, with Spain's Johann Muehlegg, the gold medalist in cross country's 30-kilometer freestyle, taking a big lead. All four Americans advanced, with Kris Freeman in 18th and John Bauer 19th.

The men's 90-kilometer Nordic combined team jumping was delayed by high winds.

Miller did his best to overshadow the controversy, overcoming on the slalom a fall on the downhill part of the combined that left him 2.44 seconds behind Norway's Kjetil Andre Aamodt. His second slalom run is sure to become a staple of future Olympic highlights.

His dash was more than a second faster than the next-best time even though he shattered a gate en route. Aamodt held on for the gold, his sixth Olympic medal, the most by an Alpine skier.

``I really didn't feel I had anything else I could do,'' Miller said. ``I'd been trying to ski how I needed to ski all day and it wasn't working. So I decided to ski how I wanted to ski.''

Miller's medal was the only one Wednesday for the United States, upping the host's total to 10. Germany earned six, vaulting to the top of the overall list with 12.

Ohno could help make up the difference.

The short track speedskating star got off to an electric start Wednesday by advancing to the 1,000-meter quarterfinals and by helping the U.S. team move into the semifinals in the 5,000 relay, his every glide cheered wildly by fans at the Salt Lake Ice Center.

``This is the opportunity of a lifetime,'' he said.

The only other medal being decided Thursday is in women's 500-meter speedskating.

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_ SHORT TRACK SPEEDSKATING: South Korea's Ko Gi-hyun became the youngest individual Olympic medalist in short track, winning the women's 1,500 meters at age 15. Teammate Choi Eun-kyung got silver and Evgenia Radanova of Bulgaria got bronze.

The South Korean men, however, were disqualified from the 5,000 relay because star Min Ryoung took out an Italian on a spectacular crash. Min was treated at a local hospital, then released.

Amy Peterson, the U.S. flag bearer during the opening ceremony, ``ran out of juice'' in the 1,500 meter semifinals and failed to advance. Erin Porter was disqualified after causing an opponent to fall.

Ohno's teammate Rusty Smith also advanced in the men's 1,000, setting an Olympic record in the process.

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_ BIATHLON: Ole Einar Bjoerndalen hit all 10 targets to win the 10-kilometer sprint Wednesday, two days after nailing 18 of 20 to win the 20K biathlon.

Germany's Sven Fischer was second in the 10K, while Austria's Wolfgang Perner won the bronze.

In the women's 7.5K sprint, Germans Kati Wilhelm and Uschi Disl went 1-2, with Sweden's Magdalena Forsberg, the sport's dominant woman for the past five years, winning her second bronze of the games.

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_ SKI JUMPING: Simon Ammann of Switzerland _ an engaging Harry Potter lookalike _ added to his gold-medal collection by winning the 120 meter championship Wednesday in addition to his victory in the 90 meters.

Poland's Adam Malysz, who was third to Ammann at the shorter distance, finished second this time. Finland's Matti Hautamaeki was third.

The United States team still has a long way to go. With Alan Alborn coming 34th and Clint Jones 42nd, no American has been in the top 25 at the last three Olympics.

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_ HOCKEY: Canada and Sweden will play Saturday to settle their round-robin group in women's Olympic hockey. Both improved to 2-0 with victories by the same score: 7-0. Canada beat Russia, eliminating the bronze medalist from last year's world championships, and Sweden beat Kazakstan.

On Thursday, the U.S. women play China and Finland faces Germany.

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_ LUGE: Sylke Otto, who failed to qualify for the previous two Winter Olympics after competing in Albertville in 1992, won the 100th gold medal for Germany at all Winter games.

``Those were very tough years, but there is nothing missing in my career now,'' she said.

The German women swept the event, with Barbara Niedernhuber taking silver and defending Olympic champion Silke Kraushaar getting bronze.

Becky Wilczak was fifth, equaling the highest singles finish for a U.S. woman.

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_ CURLING: The U.S. men lost twice, falling 9-8 to Germany and 6-5 to Norway, to sink near the bottom of the standings. Canada remained undefeated, beating last-place France 8-1, while Germany lost for the first time, 7-6 to Britain.

The Canadian women improved to 4-0 with a 6-4 victory over the United States, while Germany and Switzerland improvedto 3-0.