BEIJING, Feb. 28 -- Winning its first ever snow event Winter Olympic gold medal at the Turin Games, China has vowed to put more efforts into developing winter sports.

    "Compared with summer Olympic sports, winter sports in China is much weaker," said Xiao Tian, deputy chef-de-mission of the Chinese delegation. "Our achievements in the Turin Games are a big encouragement. We will strengthen the disciplines we are traditionally strong at and try to make breakthroughs in the weak ones."

    China won a total of 11 medals with two golds, four silvers and five bronzes - recording its best ever results since its debut at the Winter Olympics in 1980 - ranking 14th in the medals tally.

    German led the medals tally with 11 golds, 12 silvers and six bronzes, followed by the United States and Austria.

    Although the number of gold medals equalled those won at the last Games in 2002, China, considered strong only on ice, made a great breakthrough in the snow events by clinching one gold and one silver in the men's and women's freestyle skiing aerials respectively.

    Han Xiaopeng, with no previous international title, took the gold in the men's event, while Li Nina, the reigning world champion and world cup leader, won the silver in the women's event.

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