Pechstein Bests Fast Company

Speedskater Clara Hughes of Canada, not to be confused with U.S. figure skater Sarah Hughes, was so exhausted at the end of the women’s 5,000-meter race Saturday, her mind could process only one thought.

“I just wanted to curl up in a ball,” she said. “I wanted my mom. It just hurt.

“But that’s what it’s about, getting every ounce out of your body.”

Although Hughes was part of an unlikely medal-winning trio Saturday, the three women had in common the ability to tap reserves they didn’t know they had. Together, they produced a splendid finale to the Salt Lake City Olympic speedskating competition, in which eight world records were set in 10 races at the lightning-fast Utah Olympic Oval.

Claudia Pechstein of Germany won her fourth gold medal and seventh medal overall by blazing around the track in 6 minutes 46.91 seconds, breaking the 90-minute-old world record set by Gretha Smit of the Netherlands. Pechstein, who turned 30 Friday, trailed the pace Smit had set in clocking a time of 6:49.22 but blazed through the final lap in 32.05 seconds to win her country’s eighth speedskating medal of the Games.

The Netherlands (three golds, five silvers), Germany (three golds, three silvers, two bronzes) and the United States (three golds, one silver and four bronzes) led the speedskating medals table.

Pechstein had finished second to compatriot Anni Friesinger in all five World Cup 5,000-meter races this season, but Pechstein’s time, recorded in the next-to-last pair, was too fast for the fast-fading Friesinger to match.

Friesinger finished sixth, leaving Pechstein the second speedskater to win gold medals in three consecutive Olympics at the same distance. Bonnie Blair of the U.S. accomplished that feat by winning the 500 in 1988, 1992 and 1994.

“I definitely watched [Smit] race. She had a really, really good time,” Pechstein said.

“I knew I needed to reduce my personal best by nine seconds. And I knew I had to race consistently, or I would die, and I was able to do that.”

Smit, a marathon skater in her skating-crazy homeland, skated in the first pair Saturday and broke the 11-month-old world record of 6:52.44 set by Germany’s Gunda Niemann-Stirnemann.

A recent and somewhat reluctant convert to the sport, Smit pronounced herself delighted to take home a silver medal, even though training for the Games had gotten her fired from her job at a flower shop.

“I really have to think about this,” she said. “Maybe I can do this for one more year.”

But before deciding anything, Smit planned to party, no doubt with help from some of the several hundred orange-clad fans who rang cowbells and cheered for all the competitors and greatly enlivened the cavernous building.

“I’ve never had an Olympic dream,” the 26-year-old from Rouveen said through a translator. “I did marathons and just for the fun of it, I tried this. I’m happy it’s been working out well for me. I was happy to get into the team. I never expected to get any medals. I was just hoping to end up high in the ranks.”

Hughes made history by becoming the first Canadian and fourth athlete from any nation to win Olympic medals in the Summer and Winter Games. By finishing third in 6:53.53, she added a bronze medal to the two bronze medals she won in cycling races at the 1996 Atlanta Games.

The other Summer-Winter medalists were Christa Ludwig-Rothenburger of East Germany (speedskating and cycling), Eddie Eagan of the U.S. (boxing and bobsled) and Jacob Tullin Thams of Norway (ski jumping and sailing).

“This is pretty new to me,” said Hughes, a competitive cyclist for 11 years and a member of Canada’s national speedskating team for two years.

“Maybe being new in the sport, you don’t really set limits for yourself, and that’s what I do. I don’t have certain lap times in my head. I just go out and work hard.”

Hughes also said her cycling training gave her the mental and physical toughness to right herself after a slip nearly derailed her with about three laps to go.

“I thought, ‘Oh no!’” she said. “But because I have a cycling background, I was able to get back into it.... I think when I had that slip, I was kind of getting comfortable. I started fighting again. I guess I was lucky I had that slip.”

Pechstein began her gold-medal streak in the 5,000 at the 1994 Lillehammer Games and extended it at the 1998 Nagano Games, where she edged compatriot Niemann-Stirnemann by 0.04 of a second. Niemann-Stirnemann didn’t compete here because she’s expecting a baby later this year.

“I was really happy to get gold in the 3,000, so I didn’t want to put pressure on myself to win the 5,000,” Pechstein said through a translator. “I’m really happy to have done that, and I want to celebrate.”

Pechstein celebrated for a few moments after her race by wearing a red and black wig while taking a victory lap around the ice.

“I wanted to skate [laps] of 32 seconds, and I did it pretty well,” she said. “It was an amazing race.”

Neither of the two U.S. entrants was a factor, although Catherine Raney set a U.S. record with a time of 7:06.89, good for ninth place. Annie Driscoll was timed in 7:35.23, last among the 14 skaters who finished.