Cross-country skier Justyna Kowalczyk won a gold, two silvers and a bronze Wikimedia Commons

Cross-country skier Justyna Kowalczyk won gold in the 30-km classic women's cross-country skiing race at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics on Saturday, adding to the bronze and silver medals she had already gained at the games.

Combined with ski jumper Adam Malysz's two silver medals and the Polish speed skating team's bronze, Kowalczyk's win made the games Poland's most successful winter Olympiad ever.

“I didn't see anything, I didn't feel anything, I was finishing to the bitter end,” Kowalczyk said. “I was tired, but luckily Marit Bjoergen was more so – 0.3 seconds more so.”

The longest women's cross-country race began like a sprint and ended in a photo-finish, ski to ski, shoulder to shoulder, but Kowalczyk edged ahead of Bjoergen to win by a fraction of a second.

This was Poland's first Winter Olympic gold since 1972, when Wojciech Fortuna won the ski jumping event in Sapporo, Japan.

Source: Rzeczpospolita