Therese Johaug of Norway Photo: Cui Meng/Global Times

As Therese Johaug crushed the competition by finishing first in the women's 15-kilometer cross-country skiathlon amid icy gusts and -1 C temperature on Saturday, she became the first gold winner at the Beijing Olympic Winter Games.

In an interview with Chinese news outlet The Paper, the Norwegian skier expressed her excitement as well as her experiences during her stay in Beijing, concluding it as "being a wonderful trip so far."

"I just feel really nice, and people here are very friendly. They would greet you wherever we bump into each other," the 33-year-old told the outlet.

"It's been perfect, no matter the staff or the organizers here, and I'm happy to be able to have a wonderful memory in Beijing." 

Dominating in the field by finishing 44 seconds ahead of Russian athlete Natalia Nepryaeva, Johaug held a doll of Beijing 2022 mascot Bing Dwen Dwen while on the podium, and expressed her unreserved love for the panda doll. 

"I'm happy that I can win the event, and got this adorable mascot at the same time," she told The Paper.

For Johaug, this was not only the first gold medal she won at the Beijing Olympic Winter Games, but also her first-ever Olympic gold medal in her Olympic history.

She stood on the highest podium three times at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in 2015, 2019 and 2021, and came in 6th and 4th place respectively at Vancouver 2010 and Sochi 2014, yet she was never able to claim a gold at the Games until this time.

She was once banned from Pyeongchang 2018 for failing to conduct a basic check of the ingredients of a lip ointment she unintentionally used which contained a prohibited substance and caused her to test positive for the anabolic steroid clostebol.

"Four years ago I did not qualify, so I wanted this one. When I was young I had a big dream to win Olympic gold and now I have it," Johaug said in an interview after the competition. 

"It means a lot. I've never had an [individual] Olympic gold medal, it's my first one," she told The Paper.

After the championship, she told the report that in addition to skiing, running is also one of her interests. This multi-time skiing world champion has successfully crossed careers by running the 10,000 meters at 2019's Norwegian National Championships, and winning first place with a time of 32:20.86.

"I run a lot during the summertime. I tried 10,000 meters' training and made some achievements in the competitions as well. I think running is also a good contribution to skiing. It energizes me," Johaug told The Paper.

Global Times