By Michael Russo 

WASHINGTON· The Bure Brothers have returned from the Olympics and, as Valeri said, "A medal is a medal, so we'll take the bronze."

Maybe the Russians' most difficult game in the tournament was that bronze-medal game against Belarus, even though they won it 7-2.

"For us, it was a task to get ready less than 24 hours after losing to the U.S. [in the semifinals] to play Belarus," Bure said. "We were scared in a way because it's hard to get up and play the next game when you're so disappointed. The only thing in your mind is to win the gold medal, and once you can't do that anymore, it's almost like, `Let's go home.'"

In the semifinals, Russia fell behind 3-0 to the United States before rallying in the third period and coming up just short.

"They had the momentum, I think from the fans and from the excitement, throughout the tournament," Valeri said. "They came out hard and we sat back. So in the third, we had nothing to lose."

It was the second medal for the Bures after winning silver in 1998 in Japan. Despite the disappointment, both said it was a wonderful experience.

"You don't have too many chances in your life to win a gold medal," Pavel said.

Pavel felt the Russian Olympic Committee went overboard when it threatened to boycott the rest of Olympics because of its perceived bias against their country.

"I wanted to play the game, because you get so close and you're in the semifinal, you don't want to just leave from there."