Freestyle wrestler Carol Huynh won Canada's first gold medal at the Beijing Olympics on Saturday, as her family cheered from their home in Hazelton, B.C.
She defeated Japan's Chiharu Icho in the women's 48-kilogram final at the China Agricultural University Gymnasium on Saturday to win her first career Olympic medal.
Huynh guaranteed the medal win after beating Tatyana Bakatyk of Kazakhstan in her 48-kilogram semifinal match Saturday.
"I knew that I had to set the pace, set the tone and make sure that I wrestled my match and not just wait around to see what she was going to do," Huynh told reporters afterwards. "And it worked."
Huynh, 27, won gold at last year's Pan American Games and a bronze medal at the 2005 world championship.
"I was just thinking how proud I am to be Canadian," she said about her tears on the medal podium as O Canada was played. "And I was just thinking about the road to how I got here. It's been a long one but a good one."
After her win, coach Leigh Vierling carried her on his shoulders around the gymnasium as Huynh held up a Canadian flag.
The daughter of Vietnamese immigrants also won silver in the 46-kilogram division at the 2001 world championship and the 2000 event with a bronze.
Her family watched the event back in Hazelton, and cheered as she took her place on the podium.
"We were hollering and weeping and so excited," said Debbie Brauer, a family friend.
"To see her on the world stage and just doing what she can do and showing everyone, it was really emotional."
Tonya Verbeek, of Beamsville, Ont., added a bronze to the medal haul later Saturday in the 55-kilogram freestyle wrestling category.
Verbeek beat Sweden's Ida-Theres Nerell 1-0, 1-0 in the 55-kilogram category. Verbeek won silver at the 2004 Athens Olympics. However, she was philosophical about the situation.
"I won a match to get the bronze and you're losing a match to get the silver," Verbeek said. "So it is a different feeling."
Japan's Saori Yoshida, who beat Verbeek in the semi-final, went on to defeat China's Li Xu for the gold.
Canada's medal drought ended with a flurry. Dave Calder and Scott Frandsen also took silver in men's pairs rowing. The three wins came within an hour of each other after a seven-day drought.
One day later, Victoria's Ryan Cochrane took home a bronze medal in the 1,500-metre freestyle, finishing in a time of 14 minutes 42.69 seconds. It was the first time Canada had won a medal in a pool event since the Sydney Games in 2000.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper congratulated Canada's medal winners on Saturday.
"Each day, our athletes exhibit dignity, respect, and dedication to their sport and to their country," Harper said in a statement. "Their commitment to excellence and to achieving the Olympic dream truly makes them great sport ambassadors for Canada."
Before the medal drought ended, three Canadians came agonizingly close to standing on the podium:
- Weightlifter Christine Girard was three kilograms short of bronze in her weight class
- Swimmer Mike Brown missed bronze in the 200-metre breaststroke by 0.09 seconds
- Shot-putter Dylan Armstrong missed a bronze after falling short by a centimetre
Canada's men's eight rowing team takes to the water on Sunday, and they are expected to contend for a medal.
The Canadian Olympic Committee believes its goal of a top-16 finish in the medal standings when the Games conclude Aug. 24 is still achievable.
"It's never time to modify the medal projection until the gun goes at the end of the Games," committee president Michael Chambers told reporters Friday. "We're not even halfway into the Games right now and we're a second-half team."
Record set
Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, a newcomer to the 100-metre sprint, won a gold medal and set a new world record in the process.
Bolt's time Saturday was 9.69 seconds, wiping out the Olympic record of Canadian sprinter Donovan Bailey, who won gold in Atlanta back in 1996 with a time of 9.84 seconds.
Asafa Powell, Bolt's countryman and rival, didn't finish in the top three on Saturday. Bolt surpassed Powell's record time back in May when he ran a 9.72-second 100 metres in New York.
Bolt had been running in the 200-metre event, but then moved to the 100 metres last year. He is just 21 years old, but his 22nd birthday is next Thursday.
With files CTV British Columbia and The Canadian Press
