Representing a country that is best known for its success in short track, South Korea’s Mo Tae-bum captured a gold medal at the long track in men’s 500-meter speedskating Monday, shaking off a delay of more than an hour caused by mechanical issues with three Zamboni machines.
Mo put up the second-best time of the opening race, then blazed around the track in 34.90 seconds to snatch the gold medal in 1 minute, 9.82 seconds. Japan took the next two spots — Keiich-iro Nagashima claiming the silver medal in 1:09.98 and Joji Kato the bronze (1:10.01).
Mo became the first South Korean to win a gold medal at the Winter Games in a sport other than short-track speedskating, and get this: He won the biggest race of his life on his 21st birthday.
Venue glitches are becoming a concern. A day earlier, there was a problem with one of the Zambonis during the women’s 3,000, and there have been complaints about the surface being too inconsistent from one day to the next. The AP
