Seattle’s Ohno takes his first shot at gold

By Tim Korte

Associated Press

SALT LAKE CITY – Apolo Anton Ohno stepped out from behind the wall and thousands of fans who’ve never seen a short-track race burst into wild applause.

Forget the hype. It was time for one of America’s best Olympic hopes to hit the ice.

It was Wednesday night, and the Seattle skater was beginning his quest for four medals by finishing second in his 1,000-meter heat, good enough to push him to today’s quarterfinals.

He came back to anchor the U.S. team that won its semifinal heat in the 5,000 relay, electrifying the sellout crowd of 15,394 when he burst away from the Italian team with about seven laps to go. Ohno finished off the victory by gliding across the line on one skate, punching a fist in the air.

“My heart rate definitely went up,” he said. “This is the opportunity of a lifetime.”

Ohno tries today for the first of what could be four medals, in the 1,000 meters. Teammate Rusty Smith also is in the quarterfinals.

It’s one of the highlight of a busy day for American athletes.

At Snowbasin, world champion Daron Rahlves goes for a medal in his best event, the Super G. He knows Austrians Fritz Strobl, the Olympic downhill champion, and bronze medalist Stephan Eberharter have other plans.

“I’m still going in as the underdog,” Rahlves said. “Those guys have been putting down some great results this year and I haven’t. But this would definitely be the best place to have the race of my life.”

Strobl and Eberharter don’t need to be reminded that Rahlves upstaged them on their home snow, winning the world title in St. Anton, Austria. They’d love to return the favor.

“He’s the one who took away the gold last year at home,” said Eberharter, who finished second. “Maybe I can take gold away from him this year.”

There’s also qualifying jumps in aerials, where Eric Bergoust is the defending Olympic gold medalist. Skiers speed down an inrun at 35 mph and launch skyward to perform multiple twists and flips.

Canadian Veronika Bauer, last year’s world champion, and Swiss star Evelyne Leu are favored for the women’s gold. Australian Jacqui Cooper, a three-time world titlist, won’t jump after injuring a knee in practice.

The U.S. women’s hockey team, heavily favored to win gold, continues its march through the Olympic tournament against Finland.

Todd Hays goes after America’s first bobsled medal in 46 years but he’ll race without brakeman Pavle Jovanovic, banned from the games after a positive drug test blamed on nutritional supplements. Garrett Hines gets the ride instead.

Casey FitzRandolph returns to the speedskating oval, where he won the 500 meters and teammate Kip Carpenter was a surprise bronze medalist earlier this week. This time, they’re racing in the 1,000.

FitzRandolph also gets another crack at his training partner and best friend, world record holder Jeremy Wotherspoon, who stumbled in the 500.

“You want to win the gold medal with the best races that you can have and beat the best skaters in the world when you do that,” FitzRandolph said. “It was very disappointing for me when Jeremy fell.”

Also on the schedule are pursuit races in biathlon: the men’s 12.5-kilometer event and the women’s 10-kilometer. In curling, the U.S. men play Denmark and the women play Germany.