U.S. adds four more medals to its Games total

SALT LAKE CITY -- The latest recipe for American medal success: Start with a third generation Olympian winning a gold for his late grandfather. Add a local favorite with multihued hair and a gold medal of her own.

Garnish with Lee Ann Parsley and her silver medal.

The U.S. Olympians continued their unprecedented Salt Lake City roll, riding the skeleton sleds of Jimmy Shea, Tristan Gale and Parsley to three more medals -- and that was just Wednesday morning.

Jennifer Rodriguez joined the fun later, capturing a speedskating bronze in the 1,500 meters -- the second bronze of the games for the former inline skater from Miami. The four medals was the most for the United States in a single day here.

Apolo Anton Ohno, showing no signs of the leg injury he suffered Saturday, returned to speedskating's short track Wednesday night in hopes of adding to the haul. The 19-year-old finished second in his 1,500-meter heat to advance to the semifinals. The finals were later Wednesday.

The U.S. team's impressive showing -- 25 medals now, including a record eight golds -- couldn't overshadow the biggest individual star of Salt Lake City: Ole Einar Bjoerndalen of Norway, who became only the third Winter Olympian to win four golds in a single games.

On a snowy day at the skeleton track, the Americans swept medals in both the men's and women's events -- the latter punctuated with a silver medal by Parsley in a 1-2 U.S. finish.

In perhaps the most emotional moment of the Olympics, Shea raced with a funeral card of his grandfather inside his helmet -- and then waved the card in victory after claiming the gold medal in the first skeleton event since 1948.

About 30 minutes later, Gale -- her hair streaked red, white and blue -- zipped down her home course to claim an unlikely gold medal. Gale, a Salt Lake City resident, was a competitive alpine skier for 10 years before trying skeleton.

She had never finished higher than eighth in a World Cup race before collecting the gold. Just one-tenth of a second behind was silver medalist Parsley.

Wednesday's highlights:

SPEEDSKATING: Rodrig-uez's bronze medal gave the United States eight medals in eight long-track events, equaling the 1980 team as the most prolific in U.S. history.

Rodriguez, 25, finished behind the German pair of gold medalist Anni Friesinger and silver medalist Sabine Voelker. Friesinger set a world record in the 1,500 meter race.

Rodriguez's late charge knocked teammate Chris Witty off the medal stand as she sought her second medal of these games and fourth overall. Witty, who was recovering from mononucleosis, said she felt awful after the race.

HOCKEY: Don't blame Herb Brooks if he's suffering flashbacks.

Brooks, coach of the U.S. hockey team for the first time since 1980, has his team in the Olympic semifinals after a 5-0 victory over Germany. And their opponent -- just like it was 22 years ago -- is the Russians.

The Americans, behind goals from linemates John LeClair and Brett Hull, breezed past Germany behind the shutout goaltending of Mike Richter.

The Russians, avenging a gold medal game loss from 1998, nipped the Czech Republic 1-0 to oust the defending Olympic champion. Nikolai Khabibulin stopped 41 shots, outdueling Dominik Hasek as Russia moved into the semifinals.

Earlier, a surprised Swedish goalie Tommy Salo took a sailing puck in the head ... and stood helplessly as it trickled into the net behind him.

Underdog Belarus, on Vladimir Kopat's fluke goal with 2:24 remaining, stunned the heavily-favored Swedes 4-3 in one of the biggest hockey upsets in Olympic history.