Ohno Grabs Gold, Miller Disqualified
Leading from start to finish, Apolo Anton Ohno made this another Olympics to remember when he upset favored South Korean Ahn Hyun-soo to win the gold medal in 500-meter short track speedskating Saturday night.
After two false starts by other skaters, Ohno anticipated the gun perfectly and broke away from the line clear of the other four finalists. He led the entire way and didn't have to worry about Ahn, who got caught up behind two Canadians, Francois-Louis Tremblay and Eric Bedard.
Ohno looked back once, threw up his arms and let out a scream when he crossed the line first. He jumped into the arms of a U.S. coach and grabbed an American flag for the victory lap.
Showing there were no hard feelings from Salt Lake City, Ahn came over to shake Ohno's hand in the middle of the rink.
Tremblay held on for second while Ahn passed Bedard to claim the bronze. The South Korean became the first skater to win three individual medals in short track, but he fell short of three golds after winning the 1,000 and 1,500.
As for Ohno, he grabbed the fourth Olympic medal of his career. He was one of the most feted athletes at the Salt Lake City Games, where he won a gold and a silver in thrilling races.
At Turin, Ohno failed to qualify for the final of the 1,500 and settled for bronze in the 1,000, falling into the category of high-profile Americans who appeared to be falling short of expectations.
Not anymore.
Ohno had a chance to win a second gold medal later Saturday in the 5,000 relay.
Four years ago, the soul-patched American picked up his medals in two wacky races. There was a disputed gold in the 1,500, when a South Korean was disqualified for an illegal block on Ohno.
Ohno got silver in the 1,000 when the top four skaters wiped out on the final turn, but he still managed to crawl across the line in second, then went to the medal ceremony in a wheelchair.
There was nothing controversial about this gold - at least in the final.
Ohno did get some help from the judges earlier in the night. He appeared to finish third in the semifinals - which wouldn't have been good enough to advance. But he moved on when China's Li Jiajun, a veteran of four Olympics, was disqualified for impeding another skater.
In other Olympics news:
The American skier ended his disappointing Olympics Saturday by failing to complete yet another run, this time in the men's slalom, the final Alpine event of the Turin Games.
Miller had failed to finish 11 of 14 slaloms since December 2004, so it was no shock when he straddled a gate and skied off the course after only 15 seconds. He failed to medal in Turin despite skiing all five Alpine events.
Miller, who has been a local nightlife fixture throughout the games, told The Associated Press he was content with his experience.
"As far as my own personal involvement, I would not change anything. I had an awesome Olympics," Miller said. "My preparation certainly could have been different, but I'm not a guy who looks back."
The gold and two medals in the women's 12.5km biathlon extended Germany's lead at the top of the medal table with less than two days of competition remaining.
Earlier in the games, the 29-year-old Greis won the 20-kilometer biathlon and was part of his country's victorious relay team.
"I'm now going home with another gold medal," Greis said. "I think this is a really good surprise."
Ole Einar Bjoerndalen of Norway had looked like he would finally win his first gold, after coming to these games hoping for victories in all five biathlon events, but leading the field on his final visit to the shooting range he missed two targets to drop from first to third place.
"Sure, I came to the Olympics to win gold, but I was not good enough in the right moment," Bjoerndalen said. "But I made three good races, and that's OK for me."
Bjoerndalen swept all four biathlon events four years ago and has another gold from Nagano but could manage only two silvers and a bronze in Turin.
Greis finished in 47 minutes, 20.0 seconds. Tomasz Sikora of Poland was second, 6.3 seconds back.
Both Olofsson and Wilhelm missed one shot throughout the race but Olofsson, who competed in cross-country skiing at Salt Lake City four years ago, was stronger over the finishing stages, pulling away from Wilhelm to win in 40:36.5, 18.8 seconds clear of Wilhelm.
Uschi Disl took bronze to give Germany its 27th medal in Turin, 10 of them gold. The United States was in second place with 23, including eight golds.