Turin short track venue runs into "South Korea wave"
By Guan Xiaomeng (Chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2006-02-23 15:44

The South Korean short track speedskating team has been sending one chilly wave after another to the Turin Winter Olympic venue. Having already grabbed two golds in this discipline earlier during the current Games, they added another one in the women's 3,000-meter relay race Feb 22nd, denying China, who had to hand its bronze to Italy after being disqualified.

The United States, Russia, and Canada, other world powers in short track as well, have also caught a bad cold in this South Korean chill.

China's 21-year-old Wang Meng, China's first gold winner in Turin (women's 500m short track) and the country's favorite to win more golds in the following short track events, conceded the gold and silver in the women's 1,500m to South Korea's Jin Sun-yu and Choi Eun-kyung, settling for a bronze.

In the 1500m finals, three South Korean skaters kept Wang, the only Chinese skater in the final, at bay by two of them blocking Wang from getting ahead, allowing the other to charged to the finish line from the outer lane.

Wang recognized that she lost because the Koreans' group tactics left her no chance to launch her sprint, but vowed: "I won't let them win that easily at the next Winter Games."

The young Chinese skating star then crossed the finish line in third place in the final of the 3,000-meter relay races, but was disqualified by the judge for impeding the way of a Canadian skater near the finish line. Thus Italy, who finished last, got the bronze.

In men's 1,000m earlier in the Games, South Korea's South Korea's Hyun-Soo Ahn and Ho-Suk Lee finished 1-2, forcing US short track star Apolo Anton Ohno, the gold medallist of this event in the 2002 Salt Lake Games, to settle for bronze.

Ahn, the gold winner said, "My teamates and I worked very well together during the race, leaving no room at all for Ohno to surge ahead."

China's veteran skater Li Jiajun, four-time Olympic medallist and 16-time world championship medallist and Yang (A) Yang, China's top short track veteran favorite and double gold winner of the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Games, got shut out of all individual speedskating finals this Olympics.

Having already grabbed 3 golds in Turin, South Korea has fully showcased its muscle in short track. China, also a world power in this discipline, has snagged only one gold so far.

Why did the South Korean short track, always in high-speed development, strike such a heavy blow in Turin's venue?

Xin Qingshan, head coach of China's short track speedskating team, gave various reasons.

According to Xin, short track speedskating is as popular in South Korea as table tennis is in China. Parents send their children for short track training when the children are very small, providing a deep talent pool for the country's speedskating program.

Thirty-year-old Yang (A) Yang, who failed to make it to any individual finals in Turin, felt short of energy in the semifinals, while Hyun-Soo Ahn, South Korean double gold medallist who is only 21, sent the message that more young available skaters are needed in China.

Another reason, Xin added, is that the South Korean short track speed skaters train much harder. Hyun-Soo Ahn, the double gold winner, revealed that he trained for 8 hours every day while Jin Sun-yu, the women's 1,500m gold medallist, train with male athletes due to the men's rigid training. By comparison, most Chinese skaters train for only 4 to 5 hours per day.