Short track speed skater Ren Ziwei celebrates winning gold in the men's 1,000 meters at the Beijing Winter Olympics on February 7.Photo: Li Hao/ Global Times

Chinese short-track speed skater Ren Ziwei won gold in the men's 1,000 meters on Monday evening, the host country's second gold at the Beijing Winter Olympic Games. Two other Chinese speed skaters also qualified for the final with Li Wenlong ­winning a silver medal and Wu Dajing placing fourth place.

"The gold medal belongs to the team not just me," Ren said afterward. "I'll do my utmost to give everything I have to my country."

"I fought until the very last second. The three of us fought as a team and the result proves the effort we have made in the event over the past four years," said Ren. 

"After a series of revolutions and changes, the short track speed skating team will forge ahead altogether, with utmost striving for every possible medal without letting the public down."

Ren and Hungary's Liu Shaolin were battling for the whole of the last lap and Liu stuck out his skate to get the edge. At first, it appeared that Ren finished behind Liu in the final, but Liu was penalized by the chief referee after a review for blocking Ren near the finishing line.

Ren Ziwei during the competition Photo: Li Hao/ Global Times

Liu was given a yellow card, signifying that he committed multiple penalties during the race, NBC Olympics reported. The victory was finally awarded to Ren. Hungary's Liu Shaoang, Liu Shaolin's brother, picked up the bronze.

This is the second gold medal for the Chinese team and Ren himself in Beijing 2022 after Ren and teammates Qu ­Chunyu, Fan Kexin and Wu Dajing won China's first gold medal in the short track speed skating mixed-team relay on Saturday.

The hashtag "Ren Ziwei wins second gold medal" has become the top topic on China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo with more than 350 million views and comments as of press time.

The Winter Sports Management Center of China's General ­Administration of Sport ­congratulated the three athletes, admiring the solidarity of the national short track speed skating team and ­encouraging them to make greater honor and contributions to the realization of the dream of a strong sports nation.

Earlier in night, Zhang Yuting finished fourth in the final of the women's 500 meters. Zhang was part of the Chinese mixed relay team that won gold on Saturday. She skated in the semifinals.