With a single stroke, China won its first medal of the Beijing Winter Olympics on Saturday, which was also the first gold medal of a new Olympic event: the mixed team relay of speed skating on short track.

Wu Dajing hit his right skate across the finish line two hundredths of a second past a Pietro Sighel of Italy as several hundred Chinese spectators cheered wildly, ignoring an edict not to cheer to reduce the risk of spreading the coronavirus .

“I feel like I’ve waited too long for this Olympic gold medal,” Fan Kexin, a member of the Chinese team whose previous quests for a gold medal ended in disappointment, told reporters. journalists after the victory.

“I don’t care what I’ve been through in the past – the pain, the hurt. When you stand on that competitive field, then there are no excuses and you give it your all,” she said. “In the tests to come, we will not give up for a moment, not for a second. We will continue to go there. »

Time
	China	2:37.348
	Italy	2:37.364 +0.016
	Hungary	2:40.900 +3.552

+ Show all

The road to gold has not been easy for the Chinese. They initially finished in last place in the semi-finals and did not qualify to qualify. But after officials spoke and reviewed replays of the race for several minutes, the United States, which finished second in the semifinal, and Russia, which finished third, were disqualified.

“We skated without fail,” said American skater Ryan Pivirotto with disappointment, before explaining that he was blamed for the violation. An International Skating Union official said Pivirotto illegally crossed the infield on the running track as he prepared to score, blocking a Chinese skater.

With the disqualifications, the Chinese qualified for the final, and they did not lose their second chance.

Canada appeared to have finished third in the final, but was disqualified for causing a collision, allowing Hungary to claim the bronze medal.

The mixed team relay involves four skaters from each nation, two men and two women, covering 2,000 meters over 18 laps. Only one athlete from each country is on the ice at a time, skating a few laps before physically pushing a teammate to initiate the rally.

Even before China’s victory was official, its media reported that the country had won its first gold medal at the Games. The excitement quickly spread across Chinese social media, drawing enthusiastic comments.

“Congratulations, Team China! You are the best!” said The Global Times, a popular nationalist newspaper.

With the gold medal, China has already equaled its number of first-place finishes at the 2018 Winter Olympics. Short-track speed skating has been its best winter sport in recent years, accounting for three of nine the country’s medals in 2018 and six of its nine medals in 2014.

“This event really helped calm the anger,” said Wu, a member of the victorious Chinese team. “We’ve been through so much in the past four years and then the dream came true on day one.”

All members of the Chinese team come from Heilongjiang, the northeastern province near Russia and Korea that experiences freezing winters.

Liu Yi contributed to the research.