Debutante wins China's first gold

TURIN, Italy: At the end of the fifth day of the 2006 Turin Winter Olympic Games, China, a summer sports powerhouse, finally ended its gold medal drought.

This time an Olympic debutante Wang Meng made it.

Turin's Palavela ice rink welcomed a new Queen of China's short track speed skating on Wednesday.

Calm and under no pressure before the Olympics, the 20-year-old said she felt all the tension in the run-up to her gold.

"I felt very tense from the very beginning and even after the race, I could not calm down.

"This is my first Olympics and I have to admit the Olympics is really a special competition.

"I never thought about the speciality of the Olympics but when I stood on the track, I felt it was totally different. Even now I ask myself, Am I an Olympic champion?"

It was the third Winter Olympics gold medal for China after Yang Yang (A) clinched two at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games.

Following a perfect World Cup season in the women's 500m, where she finished first in all four competitions, Wang was China's biggest gold medal hopeful.

"I feel no pressure at all but the responsibility," Wang said before leaving for the Olympics. "The whole country is supporting me and I should be responsible for making some contribution for my motherland."

At the Turin Games, the burden of winning the first gold for the country fell on Wang Meng.

On Tuesday, Wang Manli a favourite in the women's speed skating 500m crumbled under pressure, winning only the silver.

A day earlier, Zhang Dan crashed spectacularly in the free skating of the figure skating pairs competition, effectively ending hopes of winning a gold with her partner, Zhang Hao, giving China yet another silver.

"After the 500m heats on Monday, I began to feel nervous But I told myself to do the best I could and in the end I did it," Wang said.

She led all the way from the heats to the final, edging world record holder Evgenia Radanova of Bulgaria 0.029 seconds to win.

The joy of victory made the young skater so excited that she jumped onto the podium even before her name was announced at the awards ceremony.

Wang's victory continued China's dominance in this event and earned her high praise from team mate Yang, who did not participate in the 500m competition this time. "Wang did very well today since she shouldered heavy pressure."

A rising star

Wang caught the eye of a skating coach in her hometown Qitaihe in China's northeast Heilongjiang province, when she was just 9.

"I wanted to try it but my parents did not want me to start skating or join sports," recalled Wang. "I used to play table tennis and that interfered with my studies, which made my parents unhappy with it.

"It wasn't until I had to move to the sports institute that I had to tell them I had joined the skating team.

"I love the stimulation and the fierce confrontation of the game."

Wang rose quickly and was selected to the national team in 2001, when she was only 16.

When some veteran skaters retired from international competitions, Wang stepped in ably to continue China's short track speed skating glory.

In 2002, she won the 500m gold medal in the World Junior Short Track Speed Skating Championships, claiming the first junior title for China in the sport.

In her debut at the World Championships in 2003, she joined the Olympic silver medal relay team of China, clinching the gold with veteran skaters Yang, Wang Chunlu and Fu Tianyu.

At the last two world championships, Wang has won a medal in seven of eight Olympic events. At the 2004 Worlds, she won the women's 500m and earned the silver in the 1500m and the team relay. She followed up her performance with two silvers (500m, relay) and a pair of bronzes (1000m, 1500m) at the event's 2005 edition. She also won the 2004-05 women's overall World Cup title.

Dubbed a tomboy, Wang's confidence is readily apparent - even at her first Olympic Games.

"I won't change my goal at this Olympics that I will strive for gold medals in all the events in which I participate," Wang said.

She will also take part in women's 1,000m, 1,500m and the 3,000m relay races at the Turin Games.

"The women's 3,000m relay is very important for me. I will try my very best to win the gold medal for China," she said.

Meanwhile, China's men skaters also brought in good news. In the first heat of the men's 1,000m race, Li Ye set a new Olympic record with a time of 1:27.048, breaking the previous record of 1:27.185 set by Canada's Mathieu Turcotte.

Li Ye and Li Jiajun, the bronze medallist in the men's 1,500m, reached the quarter-finals on February 18. The Chinese men's relay team also qualified for the final on February 25.

Source: China Daily