Czech star Ledecka gets rare double Olympic gold
PYEONGCHANG: Czech Ester Ledecka, who made history on Saturday by winning gold in snowboard’s parallel giant slalom to go with her super-g victory in Alpine skiing last week, admits she has a split personality. There is the persona she calls ‘Ester the skier’ and there is ‘Ester the snowboarder’.
Last week, after she shocked the Alpine ski world by her gold in super-g, Ledecka was afraid she might struggle to find her snowboarding half. “After the super-g there was a lot of people congratulating, congratulating. It was nice of course but I was thinking ‘but you have to change into a snowboarder now’.
“Then I was just standing there today at the start and suddenly the snowboarding girl showed up. For sure (there are two personalities) and today is a big day for snowboard Ester,” she said with a grin. The young Ledecka was advised at an early age to concentrate on one sport but one thing the two Esters have in common is a single-minded determination to follow their heart. “I chose to do both. A lot of people were telling me that it is not possible to get to the top in both and obviously it is not easy.”
NISKANEN TAKES GOLD
PYEONGCHANG: Finland’s Iivo Niskanen made an early break and 11 7 10 6 6
held off a challenge from Alexander Bolshunov to win the 50km mass start classic cross-country ski race and get Finland’s first gold medal of the Games. Bolshunov, representing the Olympic Athletes from Russia, took sil- ver 18.7 seconds behind.
NITA AMBANI PRESENTS MEDALS
PYEONGCHANG: International Olympic Committee (IOC) member Nita Ambani on Saturday presented medals to the top two finishers of the Alpine Skiing team event at the Winter Olympics here. Ambani gave away the gold and silver medals to Switzerland and Austrian teams. Switzerland won the Alpine Skiing team event defeating Austria 3-1.
Ambani is India’s first woman IOC member. She is also a member of two important global commissions of the IOC, including the Olympic Channel.