By Yoon Chul
Staff Reporter

The last day of the short track competition saw the South Korean team finish strong at the Vancouver Olympics, Saturday, adding two silvers and one bronze medal to their winning haul.

Korean sprinter Sung Si-bak, who almost snatched his first gold, took second in the men's 500 meters but the men's team came up short, coming in second in the 5,000-meter relay despite being favorites for the gold.

Park Seung-hi crossed the finish line in third in the women's 1,000-meters.

With these three medals, Korea ended up with two golds, four silvers and two bronzes overall. While not as successful as the team had hoped, they are still pleased with the results.

"We have worked hard for a long time for the Olympics. Each member put forth their best effort; we are satisfied," coach Kim Ki-hoon said at a press conference, Sunday.

"When I first became an athlete, my goal was to appear at the Olympics and win a gold medal," said Lee Jung-su, who won two golds in Vancouver. "I exceeded my expectations. I feel good."

On Saturday, Sung watched his dream for a gold medal disappear. On the last corner of the 500, Sung slipped and crossed the finish line on his stomach, finishing third. When Apolo Anton Ohno who finished second was disqualified, Sung took silver. Canadian Charles Hamelin finished first and another Canadian Francois-Louis Tremblay snatched bronze.

"When I fell, I thought my dream was over," Sung said. "Coming around the corner, I slipped due to the poor conditions. At the time, I just thought to myself, get across the finish line and get any medal you can," the 23-year-old said. "Despite not getting the gold, I am happy."

In the 5,000-meter relay, Canada overwhelmed Korea. The race was chaotic with 20 skaters from five countries - Korea, Canada, China, United States and France - competing. Korea skated poorly. They often had trouble with changeovers, and failed to take gold.

As the men's relay team had been anticipating first place, they were disappointed.

"Though we didn't do as well as we did at the Turin Olympics, we tried to do our best," Lee Ho-suk said.

"We have so much pressure on us since we've been successful at every Olympics. We'll take what we did well and what we need to do to improve and perform better at the Sochi Olympics."

Compared to the men's team, the Korea women's team wasn't successful. Before the Vancouver Olympics, the Korea women's team had won nine golds in previous Winter Games. Yet, in the 3000-meter relay ― the only race Korea expected to win a gold in ― they were disqualified. They leave Vancouver with one silver and two bronze medals.

"We were disappointed in our results," Park said. "Compared to Turin, other countries' athletes improved a lot.

"But we did our best and I think that's enough to be satisfied."

yc@koreatimes.co.kr