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WINTER OLYMPICS

GOLD

Norway take gold in nordic combined relay

Norway on Thursday beat Germany by a fraction of a second in a thrilling final sprint to take gold in the Olympic Games men's nordic combined team relay.

Norway take gold in nordic combined relay
Norway's Magnus Hovdal Moan, Haavard Klemetsen, Magnus Krog and Joergen Graabak celebrate their gold medal. Photo: Peter Parks/AFP

The initial ski jumping phase of the two-sport discipline left Norway, Germany and Austria ahead and the three were never challenged in the decisive 4x5km cross country ski race.

Norway's Joergen Graabak and Germany's Fabian Riessle surged ahead of Austria in the final section of the last leg and Graabak just managed to hold off a fast-finishing Germany.

Norway finished in 47min 13.5sec while Germany took silver, just 0.3 sec behind. Austria cruised home for an unchallenged bronze.

The triumph was the first time Norway had won the nordic combined Olympic team gold medal since Nagano 1998. It also capped a glorious Olympics for Graabak who won the large hill individual competition two days before.

Nordic combined is now the sole sport at the Olympic Games to be only open to men.

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COST OF LIVING

Switzerland searches for owner of 180,000 francs worth of gold bars left on train

Are you missing 180,000 francs (€168,000) worth of gold bars after a train journey through central Switzerland? If so, you might be in luck.

Switzerland searches for owner of 180,000 francs worth of gold bars left on train
Photo: Pexels/Free to use

Swiss authorities have announced they are searching for the owner or owners of a set of gold bars worth 180,000 francs (€168,000/$US190,000). 

The bars were left on a train from St Gallen to Lucerne in October 2019. The bars were found unattended by a member of train staff and brought to lost property – upon which SBB officers realised the find.  

After an eight-month private search for the gold – including looking at surveillance cameras throughout the journey – Lucerne authorities have gone public to try and find the rightful owner. 

But if you’ve suddenly realised your gold cache is a little light, don’t fear. The Lucerne Prosecutors Office have given prospective gold seekers a five-year window in which they can claim ownership. 

In an interview with Swiss news organisation 20 Minutes, the Lucerne Prosecutors Office says they’ve already received several claims for ownership. 

Spokesperson Simon Kopp said: “We’ve received a lot of reports and we have to check them now.”

Kopp said authorities would go through all claims they believed to be legitimate – not including the hundreds of hopeful claimants on social media. 

We're unsure how hard the authorities are looking however – as Switzerland has a 'finders keepers' law which snaps into place after five years. 

Although possession of gold bars is relatively rare – even in Switzerland – Kopp said determining the original owner of the bars just by evaluating them is impossible. 

No loss or theft of gold bars has been recorded in Switzerland either, reports the Zürichsee newspaper

Switzerland's forgetful golden problem

Remarkably, it is not the first time a large cache of gold bars has been found in Switzerland. 

In 2012, 100,000 francs worth of gold was found in a field in Klingau, Aargau by employees of the village town council. 

After a five-year search with no luck, the gold became the property of the village – under the same finders keepers law. 

An investigation failed to find the owner, despite an initial lead pointing to a Bosnian man who was in prison when the treasure was discovered.

READ: Swiss village gets to keep abandoned gold bars 

But ownership was not proven, nor was there anything to connect the gold bars to a crime.

Shortly before the five year deadline, two people turned up to stake a claim on the treasure, but after a police investigation, their claims were judged unfounded, police said.

As reported at the time, the employees were entitled to 10 percent of the total value of the find. 

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