| | | Italian grabs 50-k gold | Italy's Giorgio di Centa won the gold medal in the men's 50-kilometer cross country race, beating out Russia's Eugeni Dementiev and Mikhail Botwinov of Austria on the final day of the Winter Olympics.
This year's 50-kilometer event was run in the freestyle technique for the first time since the 1998 Games in Nagano.
The 33-year-old di Centa won the race with a time of two hours, six minutes and 11.8 seconds. Dementiev was just 8/10ths of a second behind for silver and Botwinov was 1/10th further back for the bronze.
"It is a massive emotion, I cannot find the words to describe it," said di Centa.
The lead changed numerous times throughout the race and di Centa was in the 10th position at the 46.2-kilometer checkpoint. However, he was still only 1.5 seconds behind at that juncture.
He sprinted ahead in the final stages of the event and the Italian fans responded enthusiastically, as di Centa raced to the finish line to give the host country its fifth gold medal of the Torino Games.
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