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DI CENTA CLAIMED THE LAST GOLD MEDAL | ||||||
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| DI CENTA CLAIMED THE LAST GOLD MEDAL | ||
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Giorgio Di Centa claimed the last gold medal of the Olympic cross-country competition on Sunday crossing the line first in the 50km event. |
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Giorgio Di Centa put in an exhilarating sprint as he powered home in front of jubilant fans in a time of two hours six minutes and 11.8 seconds and now joins an illustrious 50km winner's list including Bjoern Daehle of Norway, Vladimir Smirnov of Kazakhstan and Sweden's Gunde Svan. Dementiev did amazingly well, always in the mix throughout the race but saving energy by not taking the reins at the front. He came from eighth place through to second in the last 150 with a powerful drive and crossed the line eight seconds off the pace. It wasn't easy for the Russian as the oldest skier in the race, Botwinov, showed the youngster he could still mix it with the best. He gave as good as he got down the final straight and was just edged into the bronze-medal position by a toenail nine seconds off Di Centa's time. The 38-year old 50km specialist, Botwinov held off and even left behind Pietro Piller Cottrer of Italy and Anders Soedergren of Sweden, both of whom looked extremely dangerous five kilometres from the line. But it was a great sprint finish by Dementiev and Botwinov to fill the podium places that were up for grabs. |
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