Koreans capture women's relay gold
(AFP)
Updated: 2006-02-23 16:55

Defending champion South Korea captured gold in the Winter Olympic women's 3,000m short-track speedskating relay while China was controversially disqualified from the final.

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Koreans Jin Sun-Yu, Jeon-Da-Hye, Choi Eun-Kyung and Byun Chun-Sa completed 27 laps in 4 mins, 17.040 secs to defeat runner-up Canada by .296 of a second.

Italy took the bronze after the Chinese, who crossed the finish line third, were thrown out for impeding.

While judges reviewed relay videotapes to look for possible violations, all four relays celebrated on the ice while the home crowd whistled in unhappiness, sensing a disqualification.

The trouble centered upon the final hectic moments as Korean star Jin, the 1,500m champion, and China's Wang Meng, the 500m champion, dueled for position around the final curves.

Wang was ruled to have forced Jin outside and as a result, Wang and mentor Yang Yang plus Fu Tianyu and Cheng Xiaolei were not on the podium.

The drama of the final started straight away.

Korean leadoff skater Jeon was knocked down in a first-turn scramble, prompting the starter to halt the final and order a re-start.

China grabbed an early lead but the Koreans went on top with 15 laps remaining and were in charge to the finish.

Wang Meng and Jin Sun-Yu, both gold medalists at Turin, were also among 17 who advanced to Saturday's women's 1,000m quarter-finals.

Wang won 500m gold and took bronze in the 1,500m and was joined in advancing by Yang Yang, a double gold medalist at the 2002 Olympics.

Both won their heats.

Jin, who took 1,500m gold, and Choi, who took 1,500m silver, both won their heats to advance.

Also going through were Canadians Tania Vicent and Amanda Overland and American Kim Hyo-Jung, a Korean-born 17-year-old who began working in South Korea's program before switching to the US short-track team.

In the men's competition, South Korean double-gold medalist Ahn Hyun-Soo won his heat to advance in the 500m preliminaries, ensuring he will bid for a four-gold short-track sweep on Saturday in the 500m and as part of the Korean 5,000m relay.

"It was better than what I thought," Ahn said of his race.

"I'm still thinking about the next competition. I'm training for that. I hope it will be a good race."

Among 15 joining Ahn in Saturday's quarter-finals with heat victories were South Korean teen Lee Ho-Suk, who has taken silver behind Ahn in the 1,500m and 1,000m, China's Li Jiajun and American Apolo Anton Ohno.