Ohno’s eighth medal breaks record for USA

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Apolo Anton Ohno anchored the United States to a bronze-medal finish in the 5,000-meter short track speedskating relay, earning his eighth career Olympic medal.

Earlier Friday, the American was disqualified in the 500 final, apparently for causing a crash in the final turn.

Ohno claimed his third medal of the Vancouver Games, to go with a silver and another bronze that made him America’s most decorated Winter Olympian.

Ohno stuck out his left skate but was edged by South Korea’s Kwak Yoon-gy at the finish line of the 45-lap relay. Canada won the gold and South Korea earned the silver.

Wang Meng won her third gold medal at the Olympic short track. Charles Hamelin got his first, then quickly made it two.

Quite a closing night for roller derby on blades.

Wang will go down as the biggest short track star of the Vancouver Games, besting teammate Zhou Yang for that honor. Both had two golds apiece going into the final women’s event, the 1,000 meters, but Zhou was disqualified for a daring move with three laps to go and she finished last anyway. Wang has been suffering from a cold in recent days. She had a hacking cough, was sweating heavily and drinking from a water bottle as she spoke to reporters, somewhat breathlessly.

“It was not an easy win,” she said. “I feel really tired, exhausted.”

Katherine Reutter gave the Americans something to cheer about after Ohno was disqualified in the 500 final, finishing just behind Wang to claim silver. South Korea’s Park Seung-hi earned the bronze.

Wang added to her golds in the 500 and 3,000 relay, while Reutter won her second medal of the Vancouver Games. She had been part of the U.S. relay team that won bronze. Hamelin came into the Vancouver Games as Canada’s best hope for short track glory, but he had only finished fourth in the 1,000 and seventh in the 1,500. Meanwhile, his girlfriend and teammate Marianne St-Gelais had won two silvers.

Hamelin finally came through on the last night. He slipped by South Korea’s Sung Si-bak coming off the final turn, then held on when Sung lost an edge and crashed into the padded boards.