The two-time figure skating national champion Liu Yan won the
first gold medal of China's 11th Winter Games in Qiqihar, Northeast
China on Thursday.
Liu, from host city Qiqihar, earned 54.75 points in the women's
free skating demonstration event.
Fang Dan, also from Qiqihar, finished second with 52.18 points,
while Wang Yueren from Harbin was the third with 49.98.
In pink and black, Liu landed her triple luts -- double toe loop
combination to open her new program to the If Love
soundtrack.
"I like the music," said Liu after the game, "I could feel it
when I was skating."
Liu, the last to perform at the event, made a slight mistake by
touching the ice on one hand after a triple Salchow jump. However,
it didn't hold her back to edge over Fang Dan, a four-time national
champion.
"Liu's performance is better in terms of overall fluency," Said
Ding Lijie, Liu's coach, who also trained the national team.
"It was a surprise to me," said Liu, referring to her mistake,
"I was hesitated when I jumped. I shouldn't have made the
mistake."
Fang Dan, who was in black and white, finished her program with
clean jumps and spins to the music from story of a red-crowned
crane soundtrack.
She looked calm and happy before her score was announced. "It
was a good performance for me. The score was quite normal for
skaters at my age," Fang said.
She scored 52.18 points, the best before Liu's performance.
A total of ten gold medals were on offer for the figure skating
event, while other games, including the world championships,
usually have four.
Yang Dong, director of the Figure Skating Competition Committee,
said the increased number of gold medals in both snow and ice
events was aimed at inspiring more athletes to join winter
games.
"Chinese skaters were not so good at performing. So we added
events such as the demonstration part in hope of improving their
performing skills," he added.
Qiqihar, also known as "the city of red-crowned crane", is the
second largest city in the country's northeastern Heilongjiang
Province, second only to the capital Harbin.
A total of 1,233 athletes will compete for 92 gold medals.
The National Winter Games run from January 16 to 28. The opening
ceremony will be held on Friday.
(Xinhua News Agency January 18, 2008)