France's Martin Fourcade was delighted after winning his first Olympic gold medal on Monday.
The 25-year-old blew away the field to win the biathlon 12.5km pursuit with a time of 33 minutes and 48.6 seconds, finishing 14.1 seconds ahead of second-placed Ondrej Moravec in Sochi.
"It is just great, there were a lot of expectations. I wanted this for so much, I had been thinking about if for four years," Fourcade told television station France 2.
"I am also happy for the French Olympic team. Now it's up to the others to keep the ball rolling - there was not much that could happen to me today, it was just one of those days."
Fourcade's only previous appearance on an Olympic podium came four years ago when he won a silver medal in the men's mass start in Vancouver.
Written by
Robert Summerscales
Robert Summerscales
