By Susan Westemeyer
Points race World Champion Marianne Vos of the Netherlands is now also Olympic Champion. The 21 year-old won the 25-kilometre women's points race on the track in the Laoshan Velodrome Monday in Beijing. She won easily, with 30 points ahead of Yoanka Gonzalez of Cuba (18 points) and Spaniard Leire Olaberria (13 points).
Vos, the first Dutchwoman to ever win the event, lapped the field on lap 33 out of 100. That gave her 20 bonus points to virtually assure her of the win.
Overwhelmed by emotion, she struggled to hold back tears as her national anthem was played at the medal ceremony.
A bad crash midway through the race saw three riders go down. Sarah Hammer of the USA was one of them. Hammer had to be brought to hospital. She was holding her collarbone after the crash. Japanese rider Satomi Wadami was worse off and was also brought to hospital. The third rider, France's Pascale Jeuland, was able to continue and finished in seventh.
