Virtual dead heat?_其他_趣味英语-查字典英语网

Virtual dead heat?

3. In the women's Olympic downhill, what was the difference between finishing in a tie and finishing 0.01 seconds back after a 1 2/3-mile-long course on which the skiers reached speeds of almost 65 miles an hour?

Ten and a half inches.

That’s it.

“It could be just a finger,” said Slovenian speedster Tina Maze. “Or a hand.”

Or it could be nothing at all, which is what the clock said it was between the run of Maze and an earlier run by Dominique Gisin of Switzerland.

And that was history — the first time an Olympic alpine ski race had ended in a dead heat for the gold medal — or gold medals, in this case.

When Maze, who started 21st, attacked the early part of the course with abandon, it looked like she might overtake Gisin, who started eighth, as the leader. But when she crossed the finish line, there were two 1s on the board, with identical times of 1 minute, 41.57 seconds.

- Tina Maze, Dominique Gisin tie for gold; no magic for Julia Mancuso, USAToday.com, February 12, 2017.

About the author:

Zhang Xin is Trainer at chinadaily.com.cn. He has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.