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Sprint to the finish
By Jesse Hyde
Deseret News Olympic specialist
SOLDIER HOLLOW — In a sprint to the finish that was as much about desire as ability, Beckie Scott won the bronze Friday in the women's 5K pursuit, becoming the first Canadian ever to win an Olympic cross country medal and the first North American to medal since 1976.
The race for gold had already been decided — Russians Olga Danilova and Larissa Lazutina finished 1st and 2nd respectively — when Scott and Czechoslovakia's Katerina Neumannova came roaring to the finish line in a blur.
Minutes later, after a photo determined Scott had won the race by one tenth of a second, race commentator Peter Graves came out of his booth to hug the Canadian national team.
"That was amazing," Graves told them.
Amazing because it was only the second time a North American has won an Olympic cross country medal. To win the race, Scott had to hold off Neumannova, who won a bronze medal last Saturday, and Julija Tchepalova, a gold medalist in Nagano. Danilova and Lazutina have 14 Olympic medals between them, and have both medaled twice in these games.
"Beckie's medal is great for our up-and-coming kids because it shows them they can do it," said Nina Kemppel, who had the best U.S. finish in 32nd place. "We can compete with the Europeans."
Scott finished the morning's 5K classic race in sixth place, 19 seconds behind the leader. Danilova and Lazutina opened the afternoon's 5 km freestyle leg by immediately increasing their lead, and Scott followed them in a pack racing for third. Coming into the final hill, Scott made a move from fifth to third.
Her boyfriend, Justin Wadsworth, who skis on the U.S. team, had followed from hill to hill, shouting to Scott that winning the race was her destiny.
As Scott came into the stadium, Tchepalova briefly overtook her before fading to sixth. Scott, Wadsworth and every Canadian in the stadium knew if the race came down to a sprint, Scott would win.
"She's pure guts," Wadsworth said.
As the officials sorted out the finish, Wadsworth ran from the stadium to the finish area to find his girlfriend, shouting and hollering excitedly. Once there, he waited with the Canadian team, hugging Italian skiers who congratulated him, until the final result appeared on the scoreboard.
Scott had to fight off tears after her stirring performance, especially when asked about Wadsworth, who came into the Olympics as the strongest member of the U.S. team but has had disappointing results because of a cold.
"We're a team . . . " she said through tears. "And it chokes me up because I think this medal is as much mine as it is his."
E-MAIL: jhyde@desnews.com
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February 16, 2002
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