Five-time world overall short-track speed skating champion Yang
Yang (A) won China's first-ever Winter Olympic gold medal with a
runaway victory in the 500m final on Saturday.
Yang Yang, putting behind her a dismal fourth place finish in the
1,500 metres three days ago, got off to a sparking lead and never
looked back to cross the line in 44.187 seconds.
World-record holder and four-time European champion Evgenia
Radanova followed home 0.065 seconds behind.
Another Chinese, Wang Chunju, the world champion in the shortest
distance came in third, two-hundredths of a second further
behind.
Yang, 25, whose name is tagged with the letter A to distinguish her
from her younger teammate and namesake, Yang Yang (S), is the
overall World Cup winner this season, with the top points in the
1,000m and 1,500m.
In
the 1,500m, the younger Yang, 24, who won two silver medals in
Nagano four years ago, crashed out while chasing hard after two
South Korean teenagers, Ko Gi-Hyun and Choi Eun-Kyung, who
eventually finished one-two. Yang Yang (A) ended up fourth.
Yang Yang (S) did not compete in the 500 metres.
(China
Daily February 17, 2002)