Belgian bronze medal at the Beijing Olympics
First medal for Belgium at the Beijing Olympics as Hanne Desmet wins bronze in the 1,000 m short track final.
At her first Olympic Games, 25-year-old Antwerp native Hanne Desmet has just accomplished a real feat. Our reigning vice world champion in this short-distance speed skating discipline had already achieved 5th place in the 500 m earlier in the week.
In the 1,000 m, she got through the quarter and semi-finals, but unfortunately with the slowest time. She was on the outside of the starting line for the final and so had to work really hard to overtake her rivals. Despite making good progress during the second lap, Hanne Desmet found herself in last place following a move by another skater. In the last lap, a fall by Italian Arianna Fontana and American Kristen Santos opened the way for third place.
She crossed the line in third place behind her training partner the Dutch and world champion Suzanne Schulting in gold medal position, and the South Korean Min-jeong Choi, who won silver.
This is the first medal for Belgium at the Beijing Olympic Games. Hanne Desmet is also the first Belgian woman to win an individual medal at the Winter Olympics.
Congratulations and thank you, Hanne!