by Rebecca BAILEY
Hosts China claimed their first gold medal of the Beijing Winter Games on Saturday, winning the short track speed skating mixed relay on the event’s dramatic Olympic debut.
On the first full day of competition, China, who were favourites going into the race, almost failed to reach the final but had a reprieve when the United States were penalised for blocking by an infield skater.
Cheered on vociferously by a small but enthusiastic crowd of about 300 people at the Capital Indoor Stadium, China crossed the finish line in a winning time of 2:37.348.
That fell short of the fastest time of the night — the Netherlands’ 2:36.437 in the quarter-final, which by default becomes the event’s Olympic record.
The Dutch, who were also fancied for gold, started strong but dropped out in the semi-final after one of their skaters skidded and fell.
Italy took silver and Hungary bronze, after a collision with Canada in the final left them chasing for the whole race.
– High tension –
China’s medal bid looked to be lost after the semi-final, when they were beaten into third place behind Hungary and the United States.
But the result came under review.
The decision took a while to come — the crowd and the team waiting with bated breath, one team official chewing gum furiously, all eyes on the big screen.
“The semi-final was quite exciting,” said China’s Wu Dajing afterwards drily.
“We were a little bit worked up but we never gave up, not for even a second. All the teammates were motivating each other, encouraging each other.”
In the end, both the Russian Olympic Committee and the United States incurred penalties and China went through, to an enormous roar of appreciation and relief from the audience.
But the night’s drama was far from over.
The worked-up crowd, who have been selected by organisers after ticket were withdrawn from sale due to Covid-19 restrictions, began chanting loudly in support of the Chinese team and had to be silenced by the announcer ahead of the starting gun.
The race had to be reset once as two skaters crashed on the first corner.
At the restart, all four teams were tightly packed until Hungary and Canada took each other out and China pulled ahead.
But Italy’s Pietro Sighel looked like he had caught Wu on the last few laps — his teammate Arianna Fontana said afterwards she was convinced he had.
In a nail-biting finish, Wu held on to cross the finish line ahead by just 0.16 seconds.
The result went to a review again — this time, for all involved mercifully shorter — and China were declared winners.
– ‘Anything can happen’ –
Wu, who won China’s only gold medal at the 2018 Games in Pyeongchang, was emotional after the win, thanking his family.
“When I was about to give up, they stepped up and supported me,” he said.
“I’ve been waiting for this gold medal for 12 years. I’ve waited for it for so long,” said his teammate Fan Kexin. “I will always believe in the team.”
Hungary’s team includes two brothers, Shaolin Sandor and Shaoang Liu, who are also popular with the home crowd — their father is Chinese and Shaolin Sandor said before the Games that if he won a medal, “50 percent is for China and 50 percent is for Hungary”.
He said his mother had stitched together a Chinese and a Hungarian flag, which he promised to wave if he won.
His brother told AFP that he was happy with the team’s performance, and their bronze.
“There was a mistake,” Shaoang Liu said. “This is short track and anything can happen.”
reb/pst/dj
© Agence France-Presse