Norway's Yohog wins first gold at Beijing Winter Olympics

Norway's Therese Johaug won the first six gold medals at the Beijing Winter Olympics on Saturday, the day after the official opening of the Games in China.

Johaug, who was the front-runner, won the women's long-distance skatelon gold, finishing in 44 minutes and 13.7 seconds, collecting what is expected to be the first of several medals Norway will win in the long-distance skating at this session.

The Russian Natalia Nebrieva, who is competing under the Olympic flag, won the silver medal, beating Austrian Teresa Stadlooper by 0.3 seconds, who won the bronze.

This gold is the culmination of a triumphant Olympic return for Yohog.

She won relay gold at the 2010 Olympics and bronze and silver in 2014, but missed the 2018 PyeongChang Games with a doping ban.

She then tested positive for a steroid, which she said was in a lip balm the team doctor had prescribed for her.

The 33-year-old was almost excluded from the competitions before traveling to China when she was classified as a close contact of the Covid case, after two of her Norwegian teammates were confirmed to have been infected.

"At first I was really happy just to come here because we have Covid injuries on our team," Yohaug said after winning her third Olympic title.

"I've trained thousands of hours for this moment, and I've been away from home a lot over the years. So it's nice to achieve this goal," she added.

According to the Graysnot Foundation for Sports Statistics, Norway is expected to collect 45 medals in Beijing, including 21 gold.

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