Lee Jung-su Wins Gold in 1,500m Short Track
Lee Jung-su of South Korea won the men's 1,500-meter short-track final at the Vancouver Winter Olympics on Saturday, bringing South Korea its first gold medal.
Two other South Korean medal favorites _ Sung Si-bak and Lee Ho-suk _ crashed into each other in their final stretch toward the finish. The incident allowed Apolo Anton Ohno and J.R. Celski of the United States to emerge from behind and claim the silver and bronze medals, respectively, according to Yonhap News Agency.
Lee lunged ahead of Ohno with four laps remaining and kept his lead until clocking a finish time of 2:17.611. Ohno, who has become the most decorated U.S. Winter Olympian, finished in 2:17.976 while Celski posted 2:18.053.
Lee complained at a press conference that Ohno was "too aggressive" during the race, adding he would have liked to see the podium swept by his team and that Ohno used his arms too liberally.
"I entered the race expecting I would grab at least a bronze medal if I put my best efforts into it, but I've won the title," he said.
South Korea hoped to achieve a podium sweep when the team entered the race at the Pacific Coliseum with three of the seven competitors coming from the traditional short-track powerhouse.
Lee Ho-suk edged ahead while turning the final corner, grazing against Sung and prompting himself and his compatriot to spin out of the race. Lee was disqualified while Sung finished last.
South Korea has made four top-10 finishes at five previous Olympic Games, a feat that would have been impossible without short-track gold medals. The short track squad has grabbed 29 medals, including 17 golds, out of 31 overall medals South Korea has earned on the Olympic stage.
Earlier in the day, Lee Seung-hoon took the silver medal in the men's 5,000-meter speed skating competition. He clocked in at 6 minutes 16.95 seconds, finishing second to Dutch world champion Sven Kramer, who came through in 6 minutes 14.60 seconds. Russian Ivan Skobrev claimed the bronze in 6 minutes 18:05 seconds.
The 22-year old became Asia's first to win a medal at a long-distance speed skating event at the Olympics.
The former short-track skater has repeatedly set Korean records in the men's 5,000 meters, raising hopes that he could be a surprise medalist in this year's Olympics. His conversion to speed skating occurred just last year following stiff competition in the short-track scene.
"The result was better than expected. Honestly I wasn't certain of being able to win a medal but It came to my mind that I was doing better than I expected while checking the laptime during the race," Lee told reporters.
Korea Times