TURIN, Feb. 16 (Xinhuanet) -- Florence Baverel-Robert became the first French Olympic gold medallist in the women's individual biathlon events here Thursday after finishing first in the 7.5km sprint at the Turin Winter Olympic Games.

    Baverel-Robert shot clean and snatched the gold with a time of 22.31.4.

    Anna Carin Olofsson of Sweden won the silver in 22:33.8 after missing one shot. Lilia Efremova of Ukraine also had perfect shooting but settled for the bronze by 0.042 seconds behind Olofsson.

    Baverel-Robert, an unexpected winner, said she was "not at all confident" of winning the race even in her last lap. "I never won any race. My object was to get into the top ten. I wait till the last minute (to believe that I won)."

    The 31-year-old French woman started biathlon in 1993. Her best individual record was the third place in this season's World Cup.

    Baverel-Robert said she never dreamed of becoming an Olympic champion. "To become an Olympic champion is important. But what is more important is to go for the best race." Enditem