The matchup between Apolo Ohno between the South Korean skaters is like the Yankees and Red Sox rivalry of the sport of short track speedskating. The skaters will bump, push, shove and cut each other off one more time this evening as Ohno looks for USA Winter Olympics legend status as he seeks his seventh Olympics Winter Games medal. The South Koreans will look to make Ohno wait another day.
Ohno Clashes With South Koreans Again
Ohno comes into the 1000m competition having collected two golds, two silvers and two bronzes in his Olympic career, along with the famous disco ball trophy from Dancing With The Stars. Ohno has three more chances to medal at these games, including the 500m and 5000m relay. Getting the record-breaking seventh medal is going to happen, its just figuring out which event.
South Korea will throw the kitchen sink at Ohno to delay the inevitable with its podium-sweeping threat of Lee Ho-Suk, Lee Jung-Su and Sung Si-Bak. The same triumvirate were in position to sweep the medals in the 1500m event only to see Ho-Suk and Si-Bak tangle up their skates on the final turn, taking each other out and handing the silver and bronze medals to Ohno and fellow American J.R. Celski.
Anti-Ohno sentiment is sweeping the country of South Korea. After the 1000m race, so many emails were sent by angry South Korean fans that the USOC’s email servers crashed. The emails were in response to fouls that South Korean fans feel Ohno made during the race that should have resulted in his disqualification in the event. As the race neared its end, Ohno nearly crashed as he was engaged by Si-Bak, sticking his right arm out to fend off the pass and keeping himself upright as he began to stumble.
“The Korean had put his left hand over and blocked me, and that’s how I lost a lot of my speed,” Ohno declared. “If it wasn’t for that, the outcome would’ve been much different in the race if I hadn’t gotten impeded on.” Ohno felt that a disqualification should have been considered for Si-Bak and that the bump allowed his South Korean teammates who were trailing at the time to catch up.
“Ohno didn’t deserve to stand on the same medal platform as me,” gold medalist Lee Jung-Su told the Yonhap News Agency. “I was so enraged that it was hard for me to contain myself during the victory ceremony.”
Well…them there sound like fightin’ words partner…so let’s get it on!
Tags: 2010 olympics, 2010 winter games, apolo ohno, j.r. celski, Lee Ho-Suk, Lee Jung-Su, short track speedskating, Sung Si-Bak
