China wins women’s 3,000-meter short track speedskating; S. Korea DQ’d

China wins women’s short track 3,000-meter relay

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — South Korea had the Olympic pedigree in the women’s 3,000-meter short track speedskating relay. China had gold medalists Wang Meng and Zhou Yang, and the help of the judges.

The four-time defending champions from South Korea were disqualified for impeding Wednesday night, giving China its first Olympic victory in the event.

The South Koreans crossed the finish line first, but after a discussion by referees, they were disqualified for clicking skates with China just after an exchange with five laps to go.

“Blade contact is no reason for a DQ,” said South Korea women’s coach Choi Kwang-bok, who pounded angrily on the rinkside pads when informed of the DQ. “I don’t understand why they did that.”

China’s team of Wang, Zhou, Sun Linlin and Zhang Hui leaped for joy when they were declared winners. The Chinese are ranked No. 1 in the world and set the relay world record in October 2008.

The Canadian team of Jessica Gregg, Kalyna Roberge, Marianne St-Gelais and Tania Vicent won the silver, and the United States took the bronze in the four-team final. It was the Americans’ first medal in the event since 1994, when they also won bronze.

It was the second gold each for Wang and Zhou. Wang won the 500, and Zhou won the 1,500. St-Gelais earned another silver to go with the one she earned in the 500.

The American team of Allison Baver, Alyson Dudek, Lana Gehring and Katherine Reutter fell back to last place early in the 27-lap race and never moved up, but the DQ allowed them onto the medal podium.

“Was this race a little bit fluky? Maybe,” Reutter said, “but we did everything to deserve it. We were strong enough to be there, and I don’t think any of those other teams were better than us over time.”

Earlier at Pacific Coliseum, Apolo Anton Ohno advanced through the 500 heats, setting up the American for his last shot at an individual gold medal.

South Koreans Cho Ha-ri, Kim Min-jung, Lee Eun-byul and Park Seung-hi had their country’s flags in hand and were ready to celebrate. Within minutes, though, it all changed. The DQ was announced and they slowly lowered their flags to the ice. Cho put her head down and used her left arm to cover her eyes.

“I don’t have any clue what the referee was saying,” Kim said. “It doesn’t make any sense at all.”

None competed on South Korea’s winning team four years ago in Turin.

A victory would have allowed South Korea to break a tie with Germany for most consecutive wins in a specific women’s event at the Winter Games. South Korea had won the 3,000 relay in every Olympics since 1994. Germany won the women’s 5,000-meter long-track speedskating and the women’s luge singles in four consecutive Olympics.

Choi pointed out that women’s referee Jim Hewish of Australia was the same official who disqualified South Korea’s Kim Dong-sung to give Ohno his first career gold medal at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games. Afterward, the Olympic Web site received so many angry e-mails, many from South Korean fans, it crashed.

Asked if he thought Hewish had a grudge against the South Koreans, Choi answered sharply, “No comment.”

South Korea’s Kim was in the lead when her left skate blade clicked with the right blade of China’s Sun. From there, South Korea’s Park pulled away to a big lead before teammate Cho finished off what they thought was a record fifth gold medal.

“She tried to make a pass and there was an impediment collision,” Sun said. “We respect the decision of the judges.”

The title went to the Chinese, who smiled and waved, each one holding a corner of their country’s flag. Zhang appeared on the podium with a bandage on her chin. She required stitches to close a cut on her face, which resulted from the team’s celebration.

“We are not exactly clear on what happened,” Wang said. “In short track, there is a lot of physical contact. The Korean skater (Kim) was trying to make a pass when the contact happened. Regardless of the referee’s decision, whether it was for or against us, we would have accepted it.”

Several of the same skaters will be at it again Friday in the women’s 1,000 quarterfinals. China’s Sun, Wang and Zhou advanced, as did Koreans Park and Cho, along with Reutter and Canadians Roberge, Gregg and Vicent.

In the men’s 500, Ohno won his 4½-lap heat, finishing just in front of Canadian Olivier Jean. Ohno will return Friday, and must advance through the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds to skate for a medal in the 500, where he is the defending Olympic champion.

Ohno believes he’s a faster skater than he was four years ago in Turin.

“I’m going to need more (speed) if I’m going to make the final,” he said.

Also on the final night of short track competition, Ohno will lead the U.S. men in the 5,000 relay final against powerful South Korea, China, Canada and France.

Ohno has won a silver and a bronze at the Vancouver Games, making him the most decorated U.S. Winter Olympian with seven career medals.

Also moving on was American Simon Cho, who finished second in his heat. His teammate, Jordan Malone, was skating second when he hit a lane marker and wiped out just before the finish. Only the top two finishers in each of eight heats advanced.

The 500 is about going as fast as a skater can from the very start. Ohno overtook Jean, who was cheered wildly by the pro-Canadian crowd, with an easy move.

Among others advancing were South Koreans Sung Si-bak, Lee Ho-suk and Kwak Yoon-gy, Canadians Charles Hamelin and Francois-Louis Tremblay, China’s Han Jialiang and Latvia’s Haralds Silovs, who qualified for these games in both short- and long-track speedskating.

Hamelin is the world champion, while Tremblay is ranked second in the world and was the silver medalist four years ago in Turin.