Russian skier Alexander Legkov, who came...
"I did everything I could. [I] was running, striving," Legkov said weepingly on the air of the Russia-2 TV channel soon after the end of the competition on the ninth day of the Games.
The skier said he had caught cold and felt bad just before the start of the pursuit.
"But I told everybody - I should toe the starting line and strive," Legkov said. "I"m sorry this has happened."
Legkov finished the distance just 4 seconds behind the winner of the pursuit, Marcus Hellner of Sweden. Hellner took the gold with the result of one hour 15 minutes and 11.4 seconds.
German skier Tobias Angerer won the silver, and another Swede, Johan Olsson, gained the bronze.
Another Russian, Maxim Vylegzhanin, who was among the leaders after the first 15km classic pursuit, only managed to come in 17th, finishing 1 minute 52.8 seconds behind the leader.
Russia"s Nikolay Pankratov and Sergey Novikov finished 32nd and 43rd, respectively.