Wang Meng wins 3rd gold at Vancouver Games
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| China's Wang Meng reacts on the podium after winning the gold medal for the women's 1000m short track skating competition at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics in vancouver, Feb. 26, 2010. [CFP] |
![China's Wang Meng reacts on the podium after winning the gold medal for the women's 1000m short track skating competition at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics in vancouver, Feb. 26, 2010. [CFP]](http://images.china.cn/attachement/jpg/site1007/20100227/001fd04cea510cf2f5711a.jpg "China's Wang Meng reacts on the podium after winning the gold medal for the women's 1000m short track skating competition at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics in vancouver, Feb. 26, 2010. [CFP]")
Chinese top skater Wang Meng won her third gold medal at the Vancouver Olympic Winter Games as she dashed to the finish line first in the women's 1,000m short track speed skating final on Friday evening.
Wang fought for the leading position harshly with South Korean Park Seung-Hi and managed to keep it until finishing the race in one minute and 29.213 seconds.
This is Wang's third gold at the Pacific Coliseum after the 24-year-old team captain defended her title in the 500m race last Wednesday and led her teammates to top the podium of 3,000m relay one week later.
Wang believed that her victory depended on her morale. "I got a sore throat yesterday and didn't take training the whole day. I just competed with my tough mind."
It also meant that China swept all four gold medals of women's short track speed skating as Zhou held back three tough rivals from South Korea in the 1,500m final last Saturday.
"The four golds belong to our team rather than those who claimed them," said Wang, who collected four golds, one silver and one bronze from two Olympic Games.
American Katherine Reutter grabbed the silver medal in 1:29.324 and Park trailed behind to claim the bronze in 1:29.379 seconds.
"I feel like everything I've ever done has paid off. This is my moment I've been dreaming of," said the 21-year-old Reutter. "I'm feeling on top of the world."
While Reutter was extremely delighted for her silver medal, Park cried for finishing third. But her coach comforted her by saying that "at least you beat one Chinese athlete."
Wang's teammate Zhou Yang, who broke the world record of the distance in the semifinal was disqualified in the four-member final.
Zhou, 18, sliced 0.446 seconds off the previous world record of one minute and 29.495 seconds, which was set by her teammate Wang Meng in Harbin, China in 2008.
