By Chang Ailing

    TURIN, Feb. 18 (Xinhuanet) -- Biathlon King Ole Einar Bjoerndalen lost gold medal to France's Vincent Defrasne in the men's 15km pursuit at the Winter Olympics on Saturday.

    The Norwegian, who started 12th, 1:14 minutes after the leader,was fast enough to lead after the very first loop. But shooting brought him down when he had to ski 450m penalty after missing three shots.

    Defrane and Bjoerndalen skied side by side during the final kilometer. Only in the home stretch did Defrane, who has only one World Cup victory to his name, surged past Bjoerndalen to clock a winning time of 35:20.20, leaving Bjoerndalen 2.7 seconds behind.

    Bjoerndalen did have a golden chance when Defrane's skis suddenly slid out. But the Frenchman recovered from the slight mishap and launched into a strong final sprint.

    Bjoerndalen was pretty upset after the race, saying he was too fast in the early part of the race, which left him tired at the end.

    "I really gave it all and in the beginning it all went well, but when Defrasne passed me I was not able to overtake him. I went a bit too fast early in the race and maybe that was why I had nothing to give at the end," he said.

    Bjoerndalen, who swept all four biathlon golds at the 2002 Games, will crack a shot at an individual gold in next Tuesday's 10km sprint.

    Entering five races here, Bjoerndalen has taken the silver in the men's 20km individual and finished 12th in the 10km sprint.

    His last shot for an individual gold will be on Feb. 25 in the men's 15km mass start.

    Defrane was excited and proud of his victory.

    "When I realized I was second I told myself, 'you have to fight like a lion to be first'," he told a press conference. "I was scared just for a moment but then went very strong on the final sprint. All my body and muscles tired in the last 50m but I knew I had very fast skis so I put my all in the final straight."

    The reckless Frenchmen almost lost the gold due to a minor mistake.

    "I did make a beginners error, putting four bullets in the charger during the second shooting," he said. In 12.5 pursuit, biathlete are requested to shoot five bullets at each of the four shooting bouts.

    Defrane loaded the bullet by hands after realizing the mistake,which wasted him several seconds.

    Defrasne, who started fifth, 43 seconds after the leader, shot perfectly until in the last shooting round in which he had two missed shots.

    Seven Fischer of Germany got the bronze with 15.6 seconds behind after missing four targets.

    "After I missed two targets in the prone position I lost the lead. I was more and more behind and I thought that the medals were too far away for me. As I approached the finish line and I saw these two guy (Defrane and Bjoerndalen) fighting. I thought I could be very happy with the bronze medal," he said.

    The starting times in the pursuit were based on the finish times of the previous sprint race, which was held on Tuesday. Enditem