Kramer celebrates first Olympic gold

RICHMOND: Dutch world champion Sven Kramer who had earlier stormed to gold in the 5,000 metres brought some much-needed joyous scenes to the Vancouver Olympic Games on Saturday celebrating his first first Olympic gold with Dutch fans and banishing the painful memories of the Turin Games four years ago when he failed to triumph as many expected.

Kramer, the three-times reigning world all-round champion and world record holder, had earlier added the only major honour missing from his resume by upgrading his 2006 Turin silver after powering to an amazing 2.35-second winning margin for his first Olympic title.

The 23-year-old had been cheered on by orange-clad fans from the Netherlands who ringed the track, clocked six minutes 14.60 seconds to surpass the mark of 6:14.66 set by his compatriot Jochem Uytdehaage at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City.

After the win Kramer joined his fans at the Holland House close to the Richmond Olympic Oval to continue the celebrations as the young Dutchman was presented with a giant gold medal.

Kramer''s masterful performance had left his rivals wondering if he is beatable, the flying Dutchman blasting around the 12-1/2 laps in an Olympic record time of 6:14.6 to banish memories of Turin four years ago where he took silver in the 5,000 and bronze in the team pursuit.