By Jane Barrett
TURIN, Feb 18 (Reuters) - South Korea stamped its authority
on short track skating at the Winter Olympics on Saturday as
17-year-old Jin Sun-yu swept past the pack to win the women's
1,500 metres and Ahn Hyun-soo won his second gold of the Games.
Ahn nicked past compatriot Lee Ho-suk by a whisker to add
the men's 1,000 title to the 1,500 gold he won earlier in the
week. He had also pipped Lee to silver in the longer race.
It was a different story in the women's event where Jin, who
has dominated the strategic 1,500 this season, overtook the pack
a few turns from the end and stretched out an easy lead to cross
the line well in front.
Again, it was another South Korean, Choi Eun-kyung, who took
the silver, much to the delight of the packs of Koreans in the
crowd, waving flags and cheering madly.
Byun Chun-sa, who crossed the line third, was disqualified
after the race, denying South Korea a clean sweep and handing
the bronze to China's Wang Meng, who won the gold medal in the
500 metres on Wednesday.
On the podium, Jin looked as if winning an Olympic gold was
the most normal thing in the world as she simply waved to the
crowd and smiled shyly.
The men's 1,000 bronze went to American Apolo Anton Ohno,
who won the silver in Salt Lake City in 2002.
That race went down as one of the most bizarre in Olympic
history when the front pack crashed and collapsed into the side
pads on the last curve, leaving Australian Steven Bradbury, who
had been lagging badly, to step over them and win gold.
South Korea set up a bitter rivalry with Ohno at the last
Games after one of their skaters was disqualified from the 1,500
final, handing the American gold.
On Saturday, all the bad blood seemed to be flowing away as
Ohno, who was visibly disappointed when he crossed the line
third, smiled and congratulated his rivals on the podium before
waving to the crowd.
