High on Expectations, U.S. Team Finishes Near Bottom in Results

NAGANO, Japan —  The U.S. short-track speedskaters were convinced before Nagano that not only were they younger than the teams that produced five medals in 1992 and 1994, they were potentially better.

So far, the short-track team’s medal count is no golds, no silvers, no bronzes. Nothing.

And Thursday’s performance in three events, the women’s 500-meter final, the men’s 500-meter preliminary and the men’s 5,000-meter relay preliminary, was no help.

“You just have to deal it,” said Amy Peterson, a bronze medalist in 1994 but a first-heat loser Thursday in the women’s 500 meters. “A lot of things are out of control in this sport.”

Peterson, a bronze medalist in 1994; Erin Gleason and Erin Porter all were gone from the 500 meters by the quarterfinal heats.

And the 5,000-meter relay team wiped out when team rookie Tom O’Hare skidded out of control early in a semifinal heat.

The two returning skaters from the silver medal-winning 1994 relay team, Andy Gabel and Eric Flaim, insisted this team was faster. But of the seven U.S. skaters or teams to compete Thursday, only one--Gabel in the men’s 500--still can medal.

“It’s short-track, and those things happen,” said Rusty Smith, 18, of Sunset Beach.

The trouble is, it keeps happening to the Americans. Smith and Daniel Weinstein, 17, of Brookline, Mass., also went out early in the men’s 500 meters.

One skater who handled the Olympic pressure was Canada’s Annie Perreault, who won the gold in the women’s 500 meters.

But it was another Canadian, Isabelle Charest, who looked like the winner until she crashed with two laps to go, taking China’s Wang Chunlu with her. Charest was disqualified for obstruction.

Wang needed only to get up and finish the race for a bronze, but angrily stormed off the ice. That meant Chun Lee-Kyung of Korea, the consolation final winner, got the bronze instead. China’s Yang Yang won the silver.

The men’s 500-meter final and 5,000-meter relay final will be held Saturday.

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MEDALISTS

Short-Track Speedskating

WOMEN’S 500-METER

Gold: Annie Perreault, Canada

Silver: Yang S. Yang, China

Bronze: Chun Lee-kyung, South Korea