Austrian Gold Medal Lift after Doping Scandal

Austria picked up their eighth gold medal of the Olympics on Tuesday marking their most successful Winter Games but was still unable to escape the gloom enshrouding them over an ongoing doping saga.

Austria's Felix Gottwald, already a gold and silver medalist here, won another gold in the day's Nordic combined event, lifting his nation to second in the overall standings.

Neighboring Germany lead the way with nine golds, seven silvers and five bronze medals having won their eighth and ninth golds on Tuesday. Austria has five silvers and three bronzes as well as their eight golds.

Germany re-established themselves as the dominant power in men's biathlon with victory in the

men's 4 x 7.5-km relay.

Sandra Kiriasis then steered her Germany I sled to victory in the women's bobsleigh competition.

In the biathlon, having taken the lead after the third of eight visits to the shooting range, the German team of Ricco Gross, Michael Roesch, Sven Fischer and Michael Greis stayed comfortably in front to finish 20.9 seconds ahead of silver medalists Russia .

"It was a fantastic team performance," Coach Frank Ulrich said after watching Germany take the men's relay title for the fourth time in five Games.

The U.S. had to settle for silver and bronze in the 1,500 meters speed skating when arch rivals Chad Hedrick and Shani Davis seemed to concentrate more on each other than their times.

Gold went to Italy 's newest hero Enrico Fabris, who also won gold in the team event last week.