Lee Sang-Hwa wanted to keep up with her teammates. She wound up with a gold medal.
The 20-year-old South Korean stunned favorites Jenny Wolf of Germany and Wang Beixing of China on Tuesday to give her country a sweep of the 500-meter, long-track speedskating events at the Richmond Olympic Oval.
Through the first four events, the Asian nation has won two gold medals and a silver — none of them expected. South Korea had never won a Winter Games gold in any sport other than short-track speedskating until these Olympics.
Wolf, the world-record holder, and Wang came in expecting to battle for the top spot. But Lee held off Wolf by five-hundredths of a second, winning with a time of 1 minute, 16.09 seconds.
Wolf had the fastest time in the second race, but it wasn’t enough, leaving her with a silver medal in 1:16.14. Wang took the bronze in 1:16.63.
“Right now, I’m a little bit confused,” Wolf said. “I wanted to win gold.”
