Norway's Big Man: Dreams Come True

【Global Times special correspondent Xu Yunfeng】The first gold of the Beijing Winter Olympics was born at the National Cross-Country Ski Center in Zhangjiakou on the 5th! In the women's double pursuit final of cross-country skiing held on the same day, Norwegian star Theresjy Joheyug crossed the finish line with a time of 44 minutes 13.7 seconds to win the first gold medal of the Winter Olympics. The silver and bronze medals in the event were won by Natalia Nepriyaeva of russia and Teresa Stadlerbel of Austria respectively.

30.2 seconds, the advantage is obvious

Agence France-Presse said after the match that for Joheyug, it was a victorious comeback from the Winter Olympics. She won the relay gold medal at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics and the silver and bronze medals in two individual events at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, but missed the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics due to the drug ban storm. As a favourite to win the Winter Olympics, Johaiyug won the gold medal with a clear advantage of 30.2 seconds. The Norwegian delegation is also expected to win several cross-country skiing medals.

"It's a dream come true. I've been training for this for many, many years. Johaiyug excitedly told Reuters that she came to Beijing to win the gold medal in the individual event.

Norway as a whole is strong

In terms of results, the Norwegian cross-country skiing team, which swept 7 gold, 4 silver and 3 bronze in Pyeongchang in 2018 and won more than 120 medals in the history of the Winter Olympics, has no one in the overall strength of the Beijing Winter Olympics. Sweden and Russia are relatively scattered, and the United States, Switzerland and Finland have the level of gold rushing on individual items.

Singapore's Lianhe Zaobao said Norway won 14 gold medals at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics and finally set a new record with 39 medals. They are expected to increase the number of gold medals in this Winter Olympics to 21, and the total number of medals is expected to reach 44. The key to Norway's outstanding performance depends on whether they can deliver good results in cross-country skiing and biathlon, which are expected to have 28 medals in the account.

The Chinese team has made significant progress

The number of chinese cross-country skiers participating in the women's doubles pursuit has increased from two in Pyeongchang last year to a full four. The reinforcement of the lineup led to the improvement of the results - Li Xin and Chi Chunxue won the 33rd and 34th places respectively, and they ranked 51st and 55th respectively at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.

According to the schedule, the Chinese team will also participate in the cross-country skiing men's double chase, men's and women's individual sprint, men's and women's team sprint, men's 50 km and women's 30 km and other 11 sub-events in the Winter Olympics.