China wins first gold medal at Beijing 2022 with short track speed skating success

BEIJING, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- China has won the first-ever Olympic short track mixed relay gold.

The Chinese quartet of Fan Kexin, Qu Chunyu, Ren Ziwei and Wu Dajing stormed to a thrilling victory in the mixed 2,000m relay at the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2:37.348, edging out Italy who finished in 2.37.364.

The bronze medal went to Hungary in 2:40.900.

"I've been waiting for this gold medal for a long time. I always believe in our team and my teammates," said Fan with tears rolling down her face after the competition.

"We've been training hard every day, and we can even feel blood in our throat when we step out off the rink. We made it!"

Wu said in tears: "Our short track team is a big family. We never give up and always go all out for every opportunity to win."

The victory consolidated China's dominance in short-track speed skating. Since the 2002 Salt Lake City Games, Chinese short-track speed skaters have won at least a gold medal in each of the following Games.

According to the rules, each team is made up of two men and two women, and each of four skaters covers four and a half laps in the 2,000-meter race.

Olympic silver medalist Fan skated the first leg of the final race, but the race had to restart as Canadian and Hungarian athletes fell down soon after the starting pistol was fired.

As the race started again, Fan finished the first leg in third, and her teammates came from behind to lead the race. In the last ten laps, China steadily extended the advantage, while skaters from Canada and Hungary collided. The Italians rushed to cut the deficit and finished 0.016 seconds behind China.

Powerhouses South Korea and the Netherlands were penalized and eliminated from the final.

Chinese athletes have so far won 14 gold medals in the Winter Olympics, 11 of which came from short-track speed skating.

Friday night witnessed the official opening of the Beijing 2022 in the National Stadium. Before the final lighting of the cauldron, seven torchbearers passed on the Olympic flame in the stadium. Three of them were short-track speed skating Olympic champions, including Li Yan.

"I've long dreamed of becoming an Olympic torchbearer," said Li, who won one gold and two bronzes at the 1988 Calgary Games, where short-track speed skating was a demonstration sport.

Together with Li in the final relay on Friday night was Zhou Yang, a two-time Olympic champion coached by Li.

"I can feel the hard work of China's winter sports athletes, as well as the inheritance and development of the sport in China," said Li.

"Just like the relay of the torch, the flame of winter sports will be passed down from generation to generation in China, and I believe its road in the future will be broader and more stable," she added.

The short track triumph bodes well for the Chinese delegation.

"We won the first gold, and we will keep fighting in the following events," said Zhang Yuting, who competed for the Chinese team in the heats and quarterfinals.