Ohno Wins in a Strange Turn

Short-track speedskating sensation Apolo Anton Ohno, who just days ago had to settle for a silver medal in a wild scramble near the finish line, won a controversial gold late Wednesday in the 1,500 meters--controversial because he indisputably was the second skater across the line.

In yet another vivid example of the rousing theater that along with spills, thrills and arcane rules marks short-track speedskating, Ohno, the 19-year-old from Seattle, appeared to have come up just short in the first-ever men’s Olympic 1,500-meter short-track race, behind South Korea’s Kim Dong-Sung.

But International Skating Union judges--the same federation at the heart of the figure skating judging controversy last week involving the Canadian and Russian pairs skaters--ruled that Kim had impeded Ohno’s track on the backstretch of the final lap. Kim was disqualified. Ohno was declared the winner, in 2 minutes 18.541 seconds.

China’s Li Jiajun moved up to silver, Canada’s Marc Gagnon to bronze.

Even though he’d crossed the line second, Ohno had pumped his fist in satisfaction, apparently confident the call would go his way. When it was announced just moments later to a deafening roar from the crowd at the Salt Lake Ice Center that Ohno had indeed been proclaimed the winner, he skated to the center of the rink and kissed the ice.

“They can just go throw me in the desert and bury me,” Ohno said afterward. “I got a gold medal. I’m good now.”

Just five days ago, Ohno, bidding to win four medals, had been denied gold in the first of his races at these Games, the 1,000 meters, taken out in a four-man pileup just yards from the finish. He had been in the lead. He recovered to slide across the line second, behind Australia’s Steven Bradbury.

On Wednesday night, Ohno, who holds the world record in the 1,500 meters, hung back for several laps, then, late in the race, emerged at the front of the pack. Heading into the next-to-last turn, Kim attempted to pass on the inside.

Ohno pulled back and threw up his hands for just an instant, then resumed skating. Was that move to avoid contact? To alert judges to a possible infraction? Did Ohno, like a basketball player faking a charging call, play the part with just a tad too much drama?

“I saw no foul,” said Lee Chi Sang, an official with the South Korean delegation. Another senior Korean official, who asked not to be named, said a protest would be filed with the ISU.

Kim, who in the moments after crossing the finish line first had been skating a victory lap with the South Korean flag held aloft, threw the flag to the ice upon hearing he had been disqualified. He won the 1,000-meter race at the 1998 Winter Games in Nagano and for years has been considered one of the world’s best short-track speedskaters.

Fabio Carta of Italy, who finished fourth in Saturday’s race--moved up from fifth after the judges’ ruling--said, “It’s absurd that the Korean was disqualified. I don’t know what happened.”

Carta also said while watching a replay of the incident, pointing at the monitor, “We should use a rifle on Ohno.” It was not clear what prompted that outburst--whether Carta was frustrated at Ohno’s amazing athletic ability, particularly the way he usually slithers in and out of the packs that define short-track racing, or at something more sinister.

Asked in a news conference after the race about Carta’s comments that Kim’s disqualification was “absurd,” Ohno responded, “People are going to question any outcome. But people who saw the race, that’s what really matters.”

The foul is called “cross-tracking,” and Ohno said, “I came out of the corner with great acceleration, came on him real tight, got inside of him and he just moved over on me, changed my track a little bit.”

He added, “He definitely came over on me. Good call.”

Asked straight-out, however, if he had been faking to draw the call, Ohno said, “I had to stand up or else we would have hit.”

In the crash that concluded the 1,000 meters Saturday, Ohno suffered a cut to the inside of his leg that required six stitches to close. The leg appeared not to bother him Wednesday, and he said of the pro-American crowd, “If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t have had so much energy the last couple laps to make such a daring move. Thank God my injury healed up fast and allowed me to do my best.”

Ohno’s next--and final two--events will come Saturday, the 500 meters and the 5,000-meter relay. He said of Wednesday’s race, “I just gave my best and I shined, like a star or something. I saw my chance and took it.”