Han Xiaopeng of China came from
nowhere to win the gold medal in the men's freestyle skiing aerial
event in Sauze d'Oulx, Italy on Thursday, just one day after his
female compatriots missed their gold medal opportunity at the Turin
Winter Olympics.
The 22-year-old Han scored a total of 250.77 points from two almost
flawless jumps to upset a field of big names including current
World Cup leader Kyle Nissen of Canada, and Alexei Girshin of
Belarus, the bronze medalist at the last Games in Salt Lake
City.
Dmitri Dashinski of Belarus took the silver with 248.68 points,
while the bronze went to Vladimir Lebedev of Russia on 246.76
points. Girshin was fourth and Nissen finished a disappointing
fifth.
"I never thought this would happen," Han gushed after winning the
gold. "I feel like I'm in a dream."
Dashinski led the field after the first jump with 131.42 points,
nearly one point ahead of Han. Despite a lower degree of
difficulty, Han's last jump was judged to be better in take-off,
execution and landing.
"I am so happy to win China its first ever Olympic gold medal in
snow events," Han said, who left acrobatics for freestyle skiing in
1995.
"I think the men's aerials is designed for China and I'm happy to
have been the one to make this a reality," he added.
In Wednesday's women's event, the Chinese trio of Guo Xinxin, Li
Nina and Xu Nanan were in the top three places after the first
jumps, but failed to secure the title following mediocre second
jumps.
Han said that he drew a lot of inspiration from his teammates'
"heroic performance."
"I said to myself yesterday that I would fulfill their dreams.
Today, it's a dream come true," he said.
Dashinski blamed judges for his failure to win the gold.
"I was trying to win gold ... but there was a problem with the
judging," he said through an interpreter.
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(Xinhua News Agency February 24, 2006)