Germany’s Claudia Pechstein became the first woman to compete at eight Winter Olympics on Saturday when she competed in 3,000 metres speed skating. Pechstein, 49, crossed the line with her arms raised up high and with a big smile at the National Speed Skating Oval in the Chinese capital. It didn’t matter that the time of 4 minutes 17.16 was almost 20 seconds slower than her Olympic record 3:57.70 from 2002 which was bettered later Saturday by Dutch gold medallist Irene Schouten. The only other athlete who has competed at eight Games is Japanese ski jumper Noriaki Kasai on the men’s side. Pechs…