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Ohno dominating short-track show
By Maria Titze
Deseret News Olympic specialist
A nearly unstoppable Canadian relay team faces a scrappy bunch from the United States.
The 1,000-meter race is the last chance for an American woman to medal.
But short-track speedskating is still the Apolo Ohno show, and tonight brings the opportunity for the first American man to win a gold medal in this sport to do it again.
The men face off in the 500-meter, short track's shortest distance. One skater each from Japan, Korea, China and the United States are considered favorites.
Ohno, who took the gold medal here in the 1,500-meter Wednesday and has a silver from the 1,000-meter race last week, won the overall World Cup title for the 2000-01 season in the 500-meter.
"This is a race of emotion and who's ready to go, who's steamed up — has steam coming out of their ears," said U.S. team leader Jack Mortell.
Japan's Takefumi Nishitani is the defending gold medalist in the 500-meter. But this season he's ranked behind Jiajun Li of China and Dong-Sung Kim of Korea.
Allegations are still swirling that Kim, not Ohno, deserved the gold medal in the 1,500-meter. The Korean skater crossed the finish line first, but referees ruled that he moved illegally into Ohno's path in the last few feet of the race.
Korean Olympic officials, who claim the call was incorrect and unfair, protested Kim's disqualification for crosstracking, but the protest was rejected by the International Skating Union Friday. They have now appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport for improper judgment of an ISU referee.
The Koreans said Thursday that they have retained a Salt Lake City attorney to represent them through that process and may even file a federal lawsuit in U.S. District Court here against the referees.
Korea has powerful representation on the International Olympic Committee: Un Yong Kim has already weighed in on the matter, calling the refereeing in the 1,500-meter "stupid judging" that is "hurting American and Salt Lake's success."
He said South Korea is not protesting the athletes or the Salt Lake Organizing Committee. "I have no concern with the gold medal given to Ohno."
At a mere four and half laps, the 500-meter, perhaps more than any other distance, is fraught with opportunity for illegal play.
"It's a tactical race," said Mortell. "If you're not aggressive . . . you can be left behind."
"But it's a fine line between aggressive and too aggressive," he said, expressing confidence that officials will be able to tell the difference. "The 500-meter refs will keep that straight."
Ohno, who said he has "no idea" how the race today will shake out, has tried to distance himself from the officiating controversy. Judgments, disqualifications and bumping are just part of speedskating, he said. "You come to expect it."
Some of the best male skaters in the world will also race in the 5,000-meter relay final tonight.
Korea would have been considered the most likely victor, but were — again — disqualified in the semifinals of the relay on Feb. 13.
Canada's relay team won the event at the World Cup this season, won Olympic gold in Nagano and hold the world-record time.
But ask any member of the U.S. relay team about their chances and they will remind you they won the 2001 World Championships.
"We're skating well and nothing is going to change," Dan Weinstein said of the intense attention being given refereeing in this sport. "All this media doesn't happen at every competition, but disqualifications happen at every competition."
Canada and the U.S. will have to out-skate China and Italy, as well as each other, if they want a gold medal in the relay.
For Caroline Hallisey, America's last hope for a medal among the women, the luck of the draw was unlucky indeed. In the first quarterfinals of the 1,000-meter she faces two women who have each won a gold medal already during these Olympics: Gi-Hyun Ko of Korea and Yang Yang (A) of China. Yang also holds the world and Olympic records in this distance.
E-MAIL: mtitze@desnews.com
Lisa Riley Roche contributing
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February 23, 2002
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