Russian Skater Really Delivers

My mommy went to Italy and all she brought me back was this lousy hey, it’s a gold medal!

When Svetlana Zhurova returns to Russia and puts her medal around her son’s neck, she might cry, tears of joy replacing tears of guilt. She left home for three weeks last year, for training camp, and her son took his first steps without her.

“I was really shocked,” Zhurova said. “I said, ‘I have a goal. This baby will be very happy if I bring him a gold medal. It will be the best present for him.’ ”

Zhurova won the 500-meter race in women’s speedskating here Tuesday with a combined time of 1 minute 16.57 seconds, edging Chinese teammates Wang Manli and Hui Ren.

The Americans faded deep into the 30-woman field, with Jennifer Rodriguez placing 11th, Amy Sannes 17th, Elli Ochowicz 23rd and Christine Witty 28th.

“We’re typically not on the podium,” Sannes said. “It’s not like we had any hopes of ending up there.”

At 34, Zhurova became the oldest woman to win gold in Olympic speedskating. She grew up idolizing Bonnie Blair, the American who won five gold medals in the sport from 1988 to ‘94, and her uncle told her she would grow up to beat Blair.

She did, once, in Austria in 1999.

“That was a big sign for me,” Zhurova said, “that I could be very good.”

Zhurova was sixth in the 500 at the Olympics four years ago. In between Salt Lake City and Turin, she married and had a son, Yaroslav, now 26 months old.

“When I was at Salt Lake, I was nervous. Today, I can say I was not nervous,” Zhurova said. “I’m sure the baby makes me quieter. Now I have a very big fan.”

She left home six weeks ago, for training and the international circuit that precedes the Olympics, and she hasn’t seen her son since then. She spoke to him Sunday, after Russia’s Dmitri Dorofeyev won the silver medal in the men’s 500, and she said her son’s only words were “Dmitri second.”

So, after she finished first, she couldn’t wait to call home, where her mother and sister are helping her husband take care of little Yaroslav.

“I hope,” she said, “he’ll tell me, ‘Momma first.’ ”

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

MEDAL WINNERS

WOMEN’S 500 METERS

GOLD

* Svetlana Zhurova, Russia

SILVER

* Wang Manli, China

BRONZE

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In cold pursuit

Chad Hedrick, who won the 5,000 meters Saturday, leads the U.S. men’s contingent in the team pursuit speedskating event, which will debut as an Olympic sport today and Thursday. Other team members are Derek Parra, who won the 1,500 meters in the 2002 Olympics, KC Boutiette, Clay Mull and Charles Leveille.

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Venue: Oval Lingotto. Dates: Men and women, today (preliminaries and qualifying) and Thursday (semifinals and final).

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Rules

Two teams of three athletes each start from opposite sides and pursue each other around the track. Time is recorded when the last racer’s skate crosses the line.

Course: 400 meters.

Distance: Eight laps for men, six for women.

If a skater falls, he can get up and continue.

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Technique

Team members stay low and huddle close behind one another to draft off the front skater, who blocks the air current around the turns.

Sources: Torino Olympics; NBC, Asssociated Press

* Hui Ren, China