TURIN, Feb. 24 (Xinhuanet) -- Men's 10,000m world record holder Chad Hedrick of the United States lost the Olympic gold here Friday to rank second behind Dutch Bob De Jong at the Turin Games.

    De Jong won the gold in 13:01.57, leaving Hedrick 3.83 seconds behind. De Jong's teammate Carl Verheijen won the bronze in 13:08.80.

    The 29-year-old De Jong has been to three Olympics. He won a silver in the Nagano Games in 10,000m but fell to 15th place in the Salt Lake City.

    De Jong said he had trained very hard over the last year and his efforts were finally paid off.

    "During the race I felt a true Olympic spirit. I trained almosta year for this day and I proved it," he said after the race.

    "During the race I had a very good feeling and then to get my personal best time, on this slow speed skating ice ink, is wonderful," De Jong said.

    De Jong competed in the men's 5,000m on Feb. 11 and finished sixth.

    "I did the same as I did on the 5,000m race but today it was soeasy. I had a feeling that I was doing something special, every lap time in 30 and half seconds," he said.

    De Jong's victory denied American Hedrick's chance of adding another gold to his rich medal list.

    Herick had won one gold in the men's 5,000 speed skating, one bronze in the men's 1,500m. Enditem