Winter Olympics: Champ sits out skiing

Kjetil Andre Aamodt will not defend his Olympic alpine skiing combined title after injuring his knee in yesterday's downhill, the Norwegian team doctor said.

Abild Danielsen said an x-ray examination had shown no major damage but Aamodt had a sore left knee and would sit out the combined event tomorrow.

"We are hoping that he will be back in gold medal state on Saturday for the super-G," Danielsen said.

Aamodt just missed out on winning his eighth Olympic medal yesterday when he was fourth in the downhill, only 0.06s behind bronze medallist Bruno Kernen, of Switzerland.

He said at the finish area he had hurt his knee on a jump near the top of the 3.3km Kandahar Banchetta course.

Aamodt, 34, was also the super-G champion at the 2002 Olympics and at the 1992 Games.