Chinese Wang Meng won the women's 500m short track speedskating
Wednesday night, securing China's first gold medal at the Turin
Winter Olympic Games.
The Olympic debutant led from the start clocking a time of
44.345 seconds. This is China's third Winter Olympic gold with Yang
Yang having won two in 2002.
Bulgarian Evgenia Radanova, world record holder and 2002 silver
medalist, had to settle for a silver again with a time of 44.374
seconds. Canada's Anouk Leblang-Boucher got the bronze in 44.759
with Chinese Fu Tianyu disqualified for cross tracking.
The 20-year-old Wang, who has won four World Cup races over
500m, proved beyond all doubt that she is the most consistent
'short tracker' in the world.
The victory helped ease the disappointment of China losing an
expected gold in the women's 500m long-track speedskating when
World Cup leader, Wang Manli, came second to Russia's Svetlana
Zhurova on Tuesday.
Like China's Athens Olympic champion Liu Xiang, Wang jumped to
the podium and with broad smiles waved excitedly to the cheering
crowd. A laughing Wang said, "I was just so excited and anxious to
get onto the podium!"
Wang, however, admitted she wasn't completely satisfied with her
performance.
"I was pretty nervous tonight," Wang said. "My run was not very
good from the beginning. My coach has been encouraging me all the
time--telling me to trust myself. I followed the advice and I made
it today."
Yi Min, head coach of the Chinese women's team, said he was
concerned before the semi-finals because Wang hadn't performed
particularly well in the quarters. "Wang Meng seemed to be a little
tense and was not herself," Yin told Xinhua. "She should have won
more easily."
Wang, known for her calmness in competition explained that she
didn't understand why she had become so nervous.
"I didn't feel pressure before I came to Turin but when I got
here here I realized that the Olympics are totally different to the
World Cup and Championships," Wang said.
Obviously still flushed with her success Wang was finding it
difficult to calm down. "I need to compose myself," she said. "I
still have races to compete in and I shouldn't think too much about
the gold as I need to focus myself completely and attempt to win
more medals."
(Xinhua News Agency February 16, 2006)
