SALT LAKE CITY – Nursing a gash to his thigh, U.S. hot shot Apolo Anton Ohno stumbled on hands and knees to a silver medal last night after a spectacular wipeout in the 1,000-meter short track robbed him of a gold only meters from the finish line.
To the huge roars of the star-spangled crowd, the electrifying 19-year-old seemed to have race in his grasp – until the Olympic equivalent of the Roller Derby lived up to its reputation.
Ohno lost his footing on the final bend after being caught in a tangle with China’s Li Jiajun, triggering a domino collapse of four skaters.
The only skater left standing was unheralded Australian Steve Bradbury, who was too far behind to be ensnared in the wipe out.
Bradbury, who only made it through to the final due to crashes in his quarter- and semifinals, skated across the finish line untouched to land Australia’s first Winter Olympic medal in 66 years of trying.
Ohno, billed as potentially America’s biggest star of the Salt Lake Games, was the quickest of the wiped out skaters to react, crawling and stumbling over the final 10 meters of the nine lap raced to grab a silver.
Jiajun, who sparked the domino collapse, was later disqualified, while Canada’s Mathieu Turcotte, finished third.
As a champion in a sport as unpredictable as his personality, Ohno was still able to a smile as he was presented with the silver and listened to the unfamiliar sound of Advance Australia Fair.
Nursing six stitches to his inner left thigh, Ohno accepted his fate graciously, saying: “That’s short track and this is the sport I live for.”
“I was very happy with my performance no matter what medal I received,” he added. “I came to the Olympics to perform at my best.”
Ohno, who had been a chance to win four golds medal, said he expected his injury would not hamper him in the races ahead.
Brabury, who had not finished better than eighth in an individual event at his three previous Games, was almost apologetic.
“Consider it a freak the way I won the medal, obviously I wasn’t the fastest skater out there,” the 28-year-old said.
In an interesting twist, Bradbury owns the Revolutionary Boot Company that makes Ohno’s skates and had e-mailed the U.S. star on Friday night.
“I said if you get a medal can you try to give us a mention, but I guess I don’t need that now,” he said.
Bradbury, who has broken his neck and required 111 stitches in separate skating accidents, said he thought his best chance was to skate toward the back of the field and hope for crashes.
Despite last night’s disappointment, Ohno has already established himself as the favorite of the Salt Lake Ice Center crowd and has a hot chance of also scoring medals in the 500 and and the 5,000-meter relay.
Last night, he would have been America’s first gold medalist since short track was introduced to the Winter Games in Albertville 1992.
In the women’s 500m, veteran American Amy Peterson failed to advance past the quarterfinals, a disappointing end to her fourth and final Olympic campaign.