That ended Friday night at Pacific Coliseum with Ohno’s disqualification in short-track speedskating’s 500-meter race. On the final turn, Ohno bumped the Canadian Francois-Louis Tremblay, sending him skidding into the padding. For this, Ohno earned a DQ instead of his eighth Olympic medal.
As Ohno practically sprinted through the mixed zone, he reminded reporters he had “one chance left.” It came in the 5,000-meter relay, a race that Ohno later anchored and helped the United States to bronze.
At the end of his third and most likely final Winter Olympics, Ohno’s tally was complete: one silver and two bronze here, eight medals over all. Afterward, he lingered on the ice, toting an American flag. He hugged his coach and pointed to the stands.
Ohno’s improbable ride, one that started in Salt Lake City in 2002 and continued in Turin four years later, had the full circle ending he had long envisioned, even if the medals were not exactly the color for which he hoped.
“I’m very lucky,” Ohno said. “I’m very blessed.”
In classic fashion, his final individual race was tinged with controversy. In a postrace interview on NBC, Ohno indicated that a Canadian judge had ruled in favor of Canadian skaters (besides Tremblay, Charles Hamelin, who was not involved in the crash, won gold). In later interviews, Ohno said he had been searching for room inside and found none.
“It’s out of my control,” he said.
While the career of America’s most famous short-track speedskater most likely ended Friday, a teammate began a medal collection of her own. At 21, competing in her first Olympics, Katherine Reutter grabbed the silver medal in the 1,000-meter race.
It was the 33rd medal won by the United States at these Olympics, and with medals assured in men’s ice hockey and long-track team pursuit, Reutter’s silver also assured the United States would break its record of medals grabbed at one Winter Olympics. During the medal ceremony, Reutter jumped up and down on the podium.
“I love everyone in the stands, and I love my flag, and I love my country,” Reutter said. “I couldn’t stop screaming.”
Ohno’s probable last hurrah took place in the same city his speedskating career started, not far from his hometown of Seattle. He entered the final two events heavy on the medals: two gold, two silver, three bronze.
Ohno has long defined himself as an Olympian, but instead of medals, he measured his career by moments. Like crawling across the finish line in Salt Lake City, blood dripping from his thigh. Like his last 500-meter race in an Olympics, a delicious gold in Turin, the perfect race.
Yuki Ohno, Apolo’s father, projected serenity in a text message Friday morning. He described the mood in Ohno’s camp as calm and peaceful. Ohno went one step further on his Twitter page.
“It’s time,” he posted. “Heart of a lion. I will give my all — heart, mind & spirit today. This is what it’s about! All the way until the end! No regrets.”
Ohno has not officially announced his retirement from speedskating, but all signs indicate the end. His teammate and fellow relay medalist, Simon Cho, posted on Twitter about Ohno’s “final” practice Thursday. The message mysteriously disappeared. His United States coach, Jae Su Chun, talked earlier about the difficulty the program faces in replacing Ohno.
Even after Turin, Ohno mulled retirement, as he signed with a Hollywood talent agency, made forays into acting and won “Dancing With the Stars.” But it was the lure of the perfect race, the elation and emotion provided by that moment, that brought Ohno back — back to the Olympics and to Vancouver, his career circle nearing its completion.
The final night was classic short track, classic Ohno. He jumped and balanced on one skate to avoid crashing in the quarterfinal and slid past more mayhem in the semifinals.
But in the final, Ohno’s fortunes ended up reversed. Controversy or no controversy, it mattered little. The career of the American with the most Winter Olympics medals had ended, with contention and wreckage and another bronze.
The perfect ending? No, but a fitting one.
NY Times News
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