A Welcome Change

One’s a failed hockey player, the other a Summer Olympic medalist.

As speedskaters, Cindy Klassen and Clara Hughes made Canadian Olympic history.

Using a finishing kick honed from her days as a world-class cyclist, Hughes won the women’s 5,000 meters Saturday and Klassen took third, adding to impressive medals totals for them and their team.

Klassen’s bronze was her fifth medal of the Turin Games, the most by any athlete.

With six medals in her career, she’s the most decorated Olympian Canada has produced -- and Hughes is right behind her with five.

Hughes was part of the silver-winning squad in the team pursuit last week and was third in this race four years ago. Plus, she won two bronze medals in cycling at the 1996 Summer Olympics.

“The last Winter Olympics I felt like I was a cyclist trying to speedskate and this whole time I had to remind myself that I am a speedskater now,” Hughes said. “This is what I do, and I should not be afraid to be the best in the world.”

She proved it in the late stages of the 5,000.

After trailing Germany’s Claudia Pechstein for 10 of the 12 1/2 laps, Hughes charged ahead and couldn’t be caught. She finished in 6 minutes 59.07 seconds. Pechstein was 1.01 seconds behind in her bid to become first Winter Olympian to win the same event four times.

“I knew that I could accelerate better than anyone else,” Hughes said. “I am kind of like a diesel. It is the cyclist in me.”

Catherine Raney, the only American in the race, finished seventh with a time of 7:04.91. That sealed a shutout for the U.S. women, who failed to win a speedskating medal for the first time since the 1984 Sarajevo Games.

Canada, meanwhile, won nine medals in speedskating, eight by the women, making it the country’s most successful sport at these Games.

Klassen led the way, but she didn’t even pick up speedskating until being cut from the national hockey team before the 1998 Nagano Games.

Pechstein won the eighth individual Olympic medal of her career, tying former East German speedskaters Karin Kania and Gunda Niemann for the most by a woman in Winter Olympic history. “I had to fight till the end, and because I was not feeling 100%, this is a beautiful silver medal,” said Pechstein.