One of Latvia’s two four-man bobsleigh teams has finished 10th overall in the Winter Olympics as the games in Turin, Italy, near their end.

The team of Jānis Miņins, Daumants Dreiškens, Mārcis Rullis and Jānis Ozols finished with a total time of 3 minutes, 42.59 seconds over four runs, or 2:17 behind the gold medal-winning German team led by Andre Lange. The Latvians hit their top speed during the fourth run on Feb. 25—131.5 kilometers per hour.

The second Latvian team, composed of Mihails Arhipovs, Intars Dīcmanis, Māris Bogdanovs and Reinis Rozītis, finished
22nd overall. The team did not qualify for the final run.

Four years ago at Salt Lake City, the two Latvian teams earned seventh and 12th overall. Sandis Prūsis piloted the lead team in 2002, but he did not compete this year.

In other Olympic events Feb. 25:

• Ilmārs Bricis finished a disappointing 28th out of 30 biathletes competing in the men’s 15-kilometer mass start. He finished 3 minutes, 7.6 seconds behind gold medal winner Michael Greis of Germany, who completed the course of skiing and shooting in 47 minutes, 20 seconds.
• Madara Līduma finished 20th out of 30 biathletes in the women’s 12.5-kilometer mass start. She was 3 minutes, 16.2 seconds behind Anna Carin Olofsson of Norway, who clinched the gold medal with a time of 40:36.5.

Poet Andrejs Eglītis, who spent 53 years in exile before returning to his homeland in 1998, has died in a Rīga hospital at the age of 93, Latvian media report.

His most enduring work is “Dievs, Tava zeme deg” (God, Thine Earth Is Aflame!), a cantata written in 1943 with composer Lūcija Garūta. While in exile in Sweden, Eglītis in 1947 founded the Latvian National Fund (Latviešu Nacionālais fonds), an organization devoted to documenting the Soviet occupation of Latvia.

“From his land, from God’s land, has departed a deep Latvian patriot and defender of the Latvian essence,” President Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga said in an announcement reacting to news of Eglītis’ death.

Eglītis was born in 1912 in Ļaudona, an area in Vidzeme province. He studied in the Rīga city technical school before joining the Latvian army in 1935. After his discharge, he wrote for the newspapers Brīvā Zeme and Rīts and also worked for Latvian State Radio, according a biography in the online encyclopedia, www.gramata21.lv.

He served in the Latvian Legion during World War II. In 1945, along with other members of Latvia’s cultural elite, he fled to Sweden, where he continued his literary work and also became a relentless fighter for the independence of his homeland.

Among the LNF’s work was the publication in 1951 of These Names Accuse, a 677-page book detailing the names of people deported to Siberia from Latvia in 1940 and 1941.

Eglītis in 1953 married Anda Jaunvīksne.

Eglītis is credited with more than 30 books, mostly of poetry. Last year, the Rīga-based publishing house and book store Valters un Rapa released the sixth in a planned seven-volume collection his work.

Eglītis received various honors for both his literary and his patriotic efforts. Among them were the World Federation of Free Latvians’ highest honor, bestowed in 1972; honorary membership in the Latvian Academy of Sciences, to which Eglītis was elected in 1992, and the Order of Three Stars, Latvia’s highest civilian honor, which he received in 1994.

But perhaps best known is the honor he received upon repatriation in 1998, when the Latvian government gave him an apartment on Rīga’s Tērbatas Street. A 30-minute documentary film, The People Are My Home, directed by Rodrigo Rikards, examined the poet’s return to his homeland.

Latvia’s ice hockey team was unable to lift itself out of the Olympic cellar, losing 5-2 to Kazakhstan on Feb. 21, and so its time in Turin, Italy, is done.

While Latvia shocked the United States with a 3-3 tie on Feb. 15 in the team’s first game of the 2006 Winter Olympics, it subsequently was trounced by Slovakia (6-3 on Feb. 16), Sweden (6-1 on Feb. 18) and Russia (9-2 on Feb. 19). Going into their last preliminary round game, Kazakhstan found itself in last place in Group B, while Latvia was second to last.

Twelve teams, split into two six-team groups, began the ice hockey competition. The four best teams in each group move on to the next level of play.

Kazakhstan scored the first goal 7 minutes and 20 seconds into the game, according to the official Web site of the Winter Olympics, www.torino2006.org. Alexandr Koreshkov, with an assist from his brother Yevgeniy, slipped the puck past Latvian goalkeeper Sergejs Naumovs.

Latvia’s Leonīds Tambijevs, assisted by Aleksandrs Ņiživijs, evened up the score on a power play 15:20 into the game.

Kazakstan’s Nikolay Antropov, with help from Yevgeniy Koreshkov, got his country’s second goal 15:04 into the second period, putting Latvia behind 1-2.

The Latvians tied up the game 5:04 into the third period, when Aigars Cipruss scored with assistance from Grigorijs Panteļejevs and Atvars Tribuncovs.

But from there on, the game turned sour for the Latvians.

Kazakhstan regained the upper hand 12:33 into the period off the stick of Sergey Alexandrov, who was helped by Fedor Polichshuk and Andrey Trochshinskiy. Two minutes and 20 seconds later, Kazakhstan added another point on a penalty shot by Yevgeniy Koreshkov, raising the score to 4-2.

Kazakhstan’s final goal, with just under two minutes left in the game, again was credited to the Koreshkov brothers, this time with Yevgeniy scoring and Alexandr assisting.

Final results show that Naumovs stopped 25 of Kazakhstan’s 30 shots on goal, while Kazakhstan’s goalkeeper Vitaliy Yeremeyev stopped 30 of Latvia’s 32 shots. Latvia racked up 12 minutes of penalties compared to Kazakhstan’s six.

Latvia ended up in last place in its group. A final overall ranking won’t be known until after Group A finishes its preliminary round games.