Dutch Sauerbreij wins women's PGS snowboard Olympic gold
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Nicolien Sauerbreij grabbed the first Olympic medal for the Netherlands in snowboard as the third time Olympian clinched the title of women's parallel giant slalom at Cypress on Friday.
Sauerbreij, 30, beat Russian Olympic debutant Ekaterina Ilyukhina to clinch the title. Austrian Marion Kreiner took the bronze medal.
It's the fourth gold of the Netherlands at the Vancouver Games and its first medal in a sport other than speed skating since 1976.
"I just did my thing. I concentrated on my racing, and concentrated on myself," said Sauerbreij, who finished 12th in the event at the Turin Games four years ago. "It's so hard in this weather to concentrate on yourself."
Sauerbreij, coached by his father Maarten Sauerbreij, tasted her first Olympic Games at the Salt Lake City in 2002, where she had put the wrong type of wax on her board and had to settle for a 24th place.
The 22-year-old Ilyukhina, who snatched the first snowboard Olympic medal for Russia, also complained about the terrible weather.
"In reality I'm shocked right now. In this miserable weather I am shocked right now," said Ilyukhina.
"I hoped for a Russian medal but I was ready to fail because of the wet snow," she added.
