Lee delivers Hong Kong's first gold
China's 1997 inheritance--Hong Kong--jumped in value by one priceless gold medal on Sunday when Mistral board sailor Lai Shan Lee became Hong Kong's first Olympic champion.

She managed to whip her tiny frame around the Games yachting course on Wassaw Sound near Savannah to win heat eight and gain a winning lead with one race remaining.

Lee wept as she embraced her boyfriend and fellow Hong Kong yachting team member Tak Sum Wong on the Olympic marina.

A few minutes earlier, Poland's Mateusz Kusnierewicz celebrated victory in the Finn class. He too cannot be overhauled.

Conditions were too calm for racing at first and it looked as though Lee would have to wait until Monday for her shot at a medal. Then a gentle breeze allowed the women board riders to make a start.

Lee's main aim was to keep defending Olympic champion Barbara Kendall at bay. The New Zealander stayed with the leaders until after the third mark, but Lee's unmatched ability to 'pump' the board--propelling it faster in light conditions--heaved her ahead.

It was a sweet victory for Lee and the colony which transfers from British to Chinese hands next year.

Only a few years ago the then aspiring Hong Kong athlete was snubbed by a leading European coach who told her coaches she was not welcome in the elite ranks because she was not up to international standard.

Lee telephoned her mother in Hong Kong aftrer the race and also passed on some encouragement to aspiring athletes in the colony, which in future Olympics will compete as Hong Kong China.

"I hope this opens the door to others in Hong Kong trying to win medals," she said.

"I have won two silver medals at the Asian Games and it is now my ambition to win gold in that."

Kusznierewicz's ambitions had been relatively modest in the Finn class until he arrived in Savannah and proceeded to dictate terms.

After only three years in the single-handed dinghies, he came to the Olympics ranked 13th in the world.

This story written by Reuters correspondents