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Germany's gold
Pechstein wins in 5,000 meters
By Stephen Speckman
Deseret News Olympic specialist
KEARNS — While one Canadian skater made history, the German women once again showed why they dominate long-track speedskating, winning another gold and grabbing a third world record in these Games.
Claudia Pechstein already owned a gold from her world-record 3,000-meter race Feb. 10 and was on her way Saturday to becoming the first woman since American skater Bonnie Blair to win gold medals in the same event for three consecutive Olympics. In 1988, 1992 and 1994, Blair dominated the 500-meter race.
The gauntlet was thrown down early in Saturday's 5,000.
In the first of eight pairs, Dutch skater Gretha Smit buried the old world record set by Germany's Gunda Niemann-Stirnemann, whose pregnancy changed her role from athlete to journalist. Smit clocked a 6 minute, 49.22 second race, a feat made harder by the fact that she skated alone after her competition fell early on.
Smit is by trade a marathon skater and said she did not have an Olympic dream, particularly in the 5,000. "It just happened as one big joke," Smit said through a translator.
In the sixth race, Canadian Clara Hughes drew from her experience as a two-time Olympic medalist in cycling to speed her into a bronze position. She considered a slip during the race to be a stroke of "luck," one that would fuel her to become the first Canadian — and the fourth-ever Olympian — to medal in both summer and winter Games.
"I'm so happy, I actually feel like I'm going to throw up. It's a dream, it really is," she said. The 29-year-old said her medal is "just the beginning" of what could be a dual career in cycling and skating.
The last two pairs came down to what some believed would be a duel between Germany's top two 5,000 skaters.
Pechstein stole the limelight from Smit with a record-setting 6:46.91, setting up teammate and 1,500-meter gold medalist Anni Friesinger to put two Germans on the medals stand. And Friesinger has not lost a 3,000 or 5,000 race during this World Cup season.
But it was the deep freeze for Friesinger's try at a second gold, hampered by Utah's dry air, she said, landing her in sixth place.
Still, four German women captured all eight of the country's medals in long-track speedskating, medaling in all five events and setting new world records in three. The U.S. and Dutch teams each had eight medals, but they were divided among men and women.
"We have a good training system," Pechstein said. "The competition among female teammates is always high . . . and that really pushes us to achieve."
Saturday's gold was Pechstein's fourth over four Olympics and seventh career Olympic medal.
For the United States, teammates Catherine Raney and Annie Driscoll finished 9th and 14th, each shaving off about 10 seconds from their best 5,000-meter times.
E-MAIL: sspeckman@desnews.com
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February 24, 2002
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