clipped from www.nbcolympics.com
Apolo Ohno's record-setting effort nearly came up short Saturday night. The U.S. short track star, attempting to win his seventh career medal, slipped with three laps remaining and almost went down. Relive the drama that unfolded inside.
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October 11, 1968 is the date the world thought of when someone spoke of Apollo 7. It was the day NASA launched it's first manned mission of the Apollo space program, a shakedown test of a newly redesigned command module. Although it was a tense mission all went well leading to Apollo 8 being slingshot around earths satellite and eventually man setting foot on the moon.
On Saturday February 20, 2010 Apolo Anton Ohno launched his own one manned mission, to touch foot to the moon one more time and become the most decorated American in Winter Olympic history. A quest to win his seventh Winter Olympic medal and possibly win at the only distance that has managed to elude him at the Olympics. Apolo won gold in the 1500m in 2002 Salt Lake City games and ran the "Perfect Race" in the 500m finals in Turin 2006, where he led from the starting gun to the finish line, there was never any doubt who won this race. You need a bit of Zen when it comes to short track speed skating though and Apolo Ohno is nothing if he's not Zen racing. 1000m is the one Olympic gold medal Ohno is lacking, the one he'd love to finish off the collection with but would the stars line up for another moon shot this year?
Taking his third crack at this Olympic trifecta (that's two 'third times'...gotta be a charm in there somewhere right?) Apolo toed the starting line with two Canadian brothers, Charles and Francois Hamelin and who else...but two of the best South Koreans, Jung-Su Lee and his non-brother countryman Ho-Suk Lee. The race started clean with Apolo going right to the middle of the five man pack. The Canadian brothers running first and second with the Koreans right where they want to be, bringing up the rear.
(Short track tip - if you're leading a race like this early you do have a chance but you probably need to work as a team. Disallowed in Olympic short track, team skating is damn near impossible to prove and it's how every group of teamates will work if smart. Make sure nobody gets past two or more of you and only really race each other if it's safe to do so...but chances are if you leading this early you not gonna be there at the end...)
From watching Apolo skate and listening to him talk over the years I'm sure Apolo is right where he wants to be in third spot. He likes to be patient (something he's obviously learned from skating) knowing that when moves get made things happen and he gives enough room to be able to react and pick a clean line through the mayhem. With one or two skaters behind you that's less that can take you out if they make a stupid mistake and go down. He also knows he can beat any two skaters given the smallest opening. He can run with anyone. He's golden at this point.
Ok so round we go this way till four laps to go where Apolo starts to wind up his move. He makes a single outside-in move and cleanly takes second place for all of about half a lap where he "slips". Apolo Anton Ohno's words. Apolo said he slipped and lost speed there was no contact but the video is clear, one of the Canadians had a hand on him and although it looked light it does look like he pushed Ohno to the outside exiting the turn. This is where Apolo shows complete Zen in saying he slipped, he knows in short track...stuff happens. Dealing with it when it does is what makes the difference between the speed technicians and the truly great short track racers.
Right, so Ohno, severely wrenched over on his inside skate at this point fighting to hold a razor thin edge in the ice, drifts outside about a lane and a half. Losing speed and on the edge of out of control. If he loses it at this point not only is he out of the race but so are both Lees. They were winding up their own run to the front and had moved outside 2 lanes. If Apolo goes down he's lined up perfectly to wipe both Koreans off the ice with him. He holds on as the Koreans blow past him and bear down on the brothers.
Apolo knows his best move, if he had the room, was one pass right from third to first. Take it right to the front and defend the position till the end but with two of the fastest skaters in the world behind you he had to watch giving them an easy inside lane if either of the lead skaters makes a mistake the same time Ohno goes outside to make that pass. The Koreans skaters are apart from Apolo as far as I can tell, the only skaters that can go two lanes out side (three abreast IOW), turn it on and skate nothing but cross-overs until they've run you down for the lead. Giving the Koreans inside ice to work on is the same as conceding the race. They might have the speed and technique to beat you on the outside but you don't want them anywhere else. Make them 'beat' you. One can't feel bad if you run your best race and someone runs around the outside of you to win. He was running his race at this point.
Until he "slips" back to fifth (last) place as they reach three and a half laps to go. Here's where it gets good. It's not a tight pack the skaters are pretty much single file with the Lees out front and the brothers trying to hold on to bronze. Ohno is a bit off them looking out of the race as they hit 3 laps to go. Our hero looks done folks. Not only no Olympic gold in the 1000m but a miss at U.S. Olympic history with a record breaking 7th medal. Did I mention Bonnie Blair was in attendance to cheer Apolo on? She's tied at 6 medals with Apolo in case you were not aware.
Is this really it?
Will the race end with yet another short track controversy?
Stay tuned bat fans, see what happens to our hero next! ;)
Apolo Ohno had glimpsed the moon and was not going to be denied his brush with true Olympic greatness.
Coming around the corner with 1 lap to go Apolo moves to the outside, puts his head down and reels the Canadian brothers in first one, then the other making the second pass with just over one quarter of a lap left.
If the 500m final in Turin 2006 was the "Perfect Race" and I totally agree it was, then this had to be the second best race of Apolo Anton Ohno's storied career. He earned every gram of that bronze medal. Nobody can EVER say he didn't deserve to be on the podium for this race. It might not be the gold he had hoped for but Apolo can walk away from this one knowing that was THE best race he could have run that Saturday in Vancouver.
Maybe, if he had not "slipped", who knows. Fighting off one South Korean skater is hard enough, when you have two you need a head on a swivel and feet fast as lightning to even stand a chance. Maybe, but if I'm Apolo Ohno right now I'm as proud of that bronze medal as I would be of any other he owns!
Congratulations Apolo! Know many people join the entire U.S. nation in feeling pride in your third place finish and record breaking seventh U.S. Winter Olympic medal.
Not to sell the gold and silver winners short by any means, I've seen the race start to finish more than a few times now and I'm sad to say though I know what happened, I still have not really seen the battle for first in the last 4 laps yet.
I know after dropping the Canadians Jung-Su Lee made two inside passes to keep Ho-Suk Lee to silver but I have to watch a replay again to really watch that great battle. Congratulations to both skaters on flawless performances! You've both earned every gram of your medals as well!
The Apollo 7 Mission, the NASA one in 68, (I was a year old :P) was a big step on the way to putting a man on the moon. Many thought it couldn't be done. The way things look at the moment I don't know if it will ever be done again, least not while I'm alive anyway but I had a thought. With the economy the way it is and end end of our space shuttle program (I think there will be 4 more shuttle launches and thats it) and the painfully obvious link Apolo's seventh to NASA and the moon I think NASA should arrange for Ohno's bronze medal to take a victory lap. What would be cooler than to have your Olympic medal orbiting the planet? That would be awesome ;)
