OHNO DISQUALIFIED, BLAMES REF

Over the past two weeks, Apolo Ohno danced with danger, evading crashes, employing strategy and adding two Winter Olympics medals to the most expansive collection in United States history. Sometimes he seemed forever fortunate. 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, his lucky number, 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. “This has been the best experience of my life,” Ohno said. 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 tried to be a good sportsman, but occasionally he revealed his feelings. He said that “the judge saw something we didn’t see,” that “I thought I had the sliver” and that the contact was “nothing like they were saying.” But Ohno also kept coming back to a central point. “It doesn’t matter what I think,” he said. “It’s out of my control.” (NY Times)