Lee Sang-hwa wins 1st gold for Korea
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Lee Sang-hwa holds the Korean national flag as she celebrates after winning a gold medal in the women’s speed skating 500-meter event at the Adler Arena Skating Center in Sochi, Russia, Tuesday. / AP-Yonhap
By Jung Min-ho
Speed skater Lee Sang-hwa set a new Olympic record on her way to defending her 500-meter crown on
Wednesday (KST), a virtuoso performance that prompted one of her rivals compare her to track star Usain Bolt.
At the Adler Arena Skating Center in Sochi, Lee, the winner of seven World Cup races this season, led after the first run and her second run of 37.28 seconds gave her an aggregate time of 74.70 seconds. The previous Olympic record was 74.75 seconds set by Canada’s Catriona Le May Doan at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games.
Lee is only the third woman ever to win back-to-back 500-meter titles, following American great Bonnie Blair and Canada’s Catriona Le May Doan. Russia’s Olga Fatkulina finished second with a combined time of 75.06 seconds and Margot Boer of the Netherlands took the bronze.
“Memories of all the hard work came flooding back to me,” Lee said after the race. “I tried not to think of it as an Olympic race, but once I entered the rink, I became nervous. After it was all over, I told myself, ‘Yes, I've done it.’”
When Lee saw her name at the top on the scoreboard, she dropped her head in relief as tears flowed from her eyes.
“I felt a lot of pressure to win the second straight gold medal,” she said. “I am glad I was able to overcome it. I tried to think of this as just another competition, not an Olympic race, and I think that helped.”
Silver-medalist Fatkulina offered Lee the highest possible praise. "Right now, she (Lee) is almost Usain Bolt,’’ she said.
Lee’s gold medal was the first Olympic medal Team Korea won in Sochi.
"She is a real champion,’’ said Lee’s coach Canadian Kevin Crockett.
"Her first race was not so good. Her second race was more like how she can race. She needs a strong opponent. She is a racer. I said, ‘You need to open well, and work on your last corner with maximum effort.’ She did what I said. She responds well to the pressure.”
After breaking through as an athlete in the Vancouver Games four years ago, Lee has cemented her status as a top athlete, breaking the 500-meter world record four times in past year alone.
Paired with Beixing Wang of China in the final race, Lee started faster than anyone in 10.17 seconds before crossing the finish line 0.58 seconds earlier than Wang, a Vancouver Olympic bronze medalist.
Wilf O'Reilly, a former British short-track speed skater, found Lee’s talent as special.
“Lee was superb out there. She was so far ahead from the start and just needed to stay on her feet, which she did. It is Korea’s first medal at the Games and she pulled through. She has been so strong this year and nobody can beat her,” O'Reilly told the BBC.
Her performance is also expected to positively affect Korean skaters’ upcoming races.
After speed skater Lee Seung-hoon and Mo Tae-bum failed to reach the podium in the men’s 5,000-meter and 500-meter events, Team Korea was losing confidence about achieving its goal of winning four gold medals.
“I was very surprised that there have been no medals for the Korean men. Of course I thought of everyone, and this made me even more determined to get the gold medal for Korea.”
Lee will compete in the 1,000-meter speed skating event today at 11 p.m.