Grishin claims Belarus' first ever Olympic gold with aerials victory

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Posted: Friday 26th February 2010 | 4:16

ALEXEI Grishin has captured Belarus' first ever Winter Olympic gold medal with a spell-binding second jump to clinch aerials gold at Cypress Mountain.

DISBELIEF: Alexei Grishin struggles to come to terms with the fact he has won Belarus' first ever Winter Olympic gold medal (Getty Images)

Grishin, an aerials veteran at 30, upgraded his 2002 bronze in Salt Lake City to Vancouver gold with a soaring second jump to earn 127.83, having placed second after his first effort.

In Winter Olympic history, Belarus have captured four silver medals and four bronzes but Grishin becomes the first to top the podium.

Prior to the start of the aerials competition, many were predicting a Belarusian gold but it was World Cup champion Anton Kushnir who was tipped for glory.

But he crashed out in qualifying, leaving the responsibility on Grishin's shoulders, and he didn't disappoint, claiming a combined score of 248.41 points to take gold.

"To be perfectly honest, in practice, it was really soft more like sand rather than snow," said Grishin. Today was a different ball park. It was one of the best days for landing and the weather was kind to us.

"I didn't feel any pressure after Anton had gone out, I just did my job. Every athlete in sports, they make a level of competing, my level is maximum. This is always my dream, and my dream has happened.

"It hasn't really sunk in yet, but I'm sure it will sink in soon.

"Today, my victories in sports are behind me. You can't go any further in sports than I have.

"In my personal life I'd like to have a child and that's my personal goal."

Silver went to the USA's Jeret ‘Speedy' Peterson who notched up the fifth and third best scores in his two jumps, four years after allegedly becoming embroiled in a drunken brawl having failed to live up to his favourites tag and ended up seventh.

"Its funny cause Alexei and I were talking on the podium and he said to me, 'This doesn't feel real'. That's how I felt," said Peterson.

"I don't think it'll hit me for a while.

"It hasn't hit me at all. I haven't seen my mum yet. I don't have a medal around my neck. It's just like another day, except a lot of interviews.

"There are some people you don't want to be beat by, but Alexei is someone I consider a friend and I'll go out with outside of jumping.

"I've done a lot of things in my life that I regret. I've been through lots that I've had to overcome. I've worked hard lately to become the person I am today and the one I want become.

"To be the person that I want to be, to be the person I really am. This is more than a redemption than you could even think of from Turin. This is the best day of my life."

Meanwhile, in the absence of defending champion Xiaopeng Han, who also failed to progress through qualifying, it was left to Zhongqing Liu to fly the Chinese flag and he collected 242.53 points, good enough for bronze, 4.68 behind Peterson.

That ensured the USA's Ryan St Onge, the reigning world champion who topped the scores in qualifying, had to settle for fourth place.

And Kyle Nissen, who led after the first jump and had the chance claim Canada's ninth gold medal of Vancouver 2010, which would have taken them to the top of the medals table, fluffed his lines in his second jump and ended up fifth.