Russia Outduels China for 500M Gold

Considering the brevity of the event and the relative slush of the surface, Jennifer Rodriguez was pleased with her opening performance at these Winter Olympics.

Rodriguez, the multiple medal-winning speedskater from Miami Palmetto High School, finished 11th in the 500 meters Tuesday evening at the Oval Lingotto. She briefly topped the standings after her second run, but everyone in the final five pairings passed her in the final totals.

“I wasn’t expecting to medal,” said Rodriguez, 29. “This definitely is not my favorite race. My start is just too slow. I was hoping to get some good laps in, which I did.”

With her parents, Joe and Barbara, watching from the stands, Rodriguez shaved 0.24 seconds off her initial lap time to become the top American finisher at 77.70 seconds. Amy Sannes was 17th, Ellie Ochowicz was 23rd and Chris Witty was a disappointing 28th in the 30-skater field.

Russia’s Svetlana Zhurova claimed the gold medal with a combined time of 76.57 seconds. That was 0.21 seconds ahead of silver medalist Manli Wang of China. Hui Ren, also of China, took the bronze.

“My lap time, if you take away my start, was one of the fastest except for the top girls,” Rodriguez said. “I was really happy with that. Going into the 1,000 meters, you need to have some fast laps. “

Rodriguez, who won a pair of bronze medals at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, hasn’t decided whether to skate in the team pursuit this week. She said she would probably take today off to recover, then possibly skate on Thursday to help the U.S. team reach the medal round.

Her key event comes Sunday, when the women’s 1,000 meters will be contested. The women’s 1,500 meters is set for Feb. 22. Both of Rodriguez’s bronze medals four years ago came in those events.

“Things have been really up and down for me lately, so I really wasn’t sure what to expect,” Rodriguez said. “The butterflies are gone. The second race I really enjoyed. I had a good time out there. There was no pressure. I knew there was no chance of a medal.”

While a number of skaters complained about the slow pistol of the Norwegian starter, Rodriguez had no issue with him because she still uses a three-quarters stance she learned as an in-line skater.

More disappointing to Rodriguez, who makes her home in Park City, Utah, was the blase attitude of the half-capacity crowd.

“I was like, ‘I can’t believe this is the Olympics,’ ” Rodriguez said. “It felt like a World Cup race. I know it’s not, but I was pretty disappointed. The Olympics should be sold out.”

It was a marked contrast from the energy she drew from the home crowd four years ago.

“Salt Lake City was pretty phenomenal with the crowd, the intensity,” she said. “Whether or not I was American, it was really cool. I would feel bad if I was an Italian skater and you don’t have any of your home country [here]. … It was just a little bit dead in there.”

As for Valentine’s Day, Rodriguez said she forgot about it until husband and fellow speedskater K.C. Boutiette mentioned it around noon. Their dinner plans would probably take them to the cafeteria for a burger, she said.

Mike Berardino is a sportswriter with the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, a Tribune Publishing newspaper.