Apolo Anton Ohno disqualified in men's 500-meter final

Short-track speedskater Apolo Anton Ohno didn't add another medal to his collection Friday night, when he was disqualified for pushing in the final of the men's 500 meters at the Vancouver Winter Olympics.

Ohno appeared to push Francois-Louis Tremblay of Canada on the final turn, causing Tremblay and South Korean skater Sung Si-Bak to fall.

Charles Hamelin of Canada won the gold, Sung the silver, Tremblay the bronze. Ohno has one more chance to win a medal later Friday night in the men's 5,000-meter relay.

-- Houston Mitchell in Vancouver, Canada

Photo: Apolo Anton Ohno, left, was disqualified for pushing the skater in front of him on the final turn. Credit: John David Mercer, U.S. Presswire.

Comments

[linda]

what a cheesy call on Apolo being dq!! Apolo deserved that medal.... i guess it must feel good to earn medal that you clearly did not deserve because you could not hang in the race and keep yourself from falling on your own. What a wimpy way to earn a medal in Olympics and shame on Canadian judge for calling it dq!

[Sarah]

If anyone has read an Apolo Ohno interview, he explains why he yawns. First, it relaxes him. Second, it helps with the oxygen flow, and third, he said it looks like a roaring lion. Get your facts straight before you start name calling, John C. Pavlovski!

[Linde]

Very, very bad call. No way was he pushing, because they were all wobbly ahead of him. The judge was Canadian and clearly wanted his countrymen to take medals. There should be a multi-national set of judges to make these decisions.

[Just]

But it was clear to me that Apolo pushed that canadian. Apolo even had to leen on ice with his left hand to do it more efficiently. It was very obvious.

I only don't understand the following: Korean was going first, but that second canadian with black hair, pushed Korean the same way (and at the same time!), just like Ohno did - but he didn't get disqualified. Both Korean and blond Canadian fell. What a mean thing to do! The funniest part Korean on his way down, was trying to grab the feet of canadian who pushed him. Thats why that Canadian who won the gold - looked so freaking wobbly on the finish. It was a mess - they should have made these triksters re-run the whole thing.

[Tracy]

Ohno should not have been disqualified! There was not a push and anyone watching the play in slow motion can see that. The Canadian actually placed his hand between Ohno's skates on the pass. The Korean and Canadian that were in the front were all over each other. Ridiculous!

[Robert]

its clear that apolo ohno pushed Tremblay
it IS fair that he is DQed and his comments were also
very insulting
the Canadian referee is not biased against the US
Many Canadians were also DQ'd during many other games
Apolo is disqualified and thats it
just get it over gosh

[Tom]

Ohno suffered the consequences of trying to pass by cheating. He has been PUSHING his luck all olympics and the right call was made. Congrats to all the other skaters for such a great race.

[Oh No~!]

Look at these bunch of crying Americans LOL It's about time Ohno gets disqualified for his dirty plays. The only reason he won so many medals is because that retard Hewish got bribed by the USA. All of you stupid American's are too stupid to realize anything. I bet 99% of you can't even say all the 50 states of American. Keep crying ok? hehehehe

[rt]

He pushed in frustration cause he was not leading.....bad call.

[No Just]

@Just

I'm not confident the S.Korean skater tried to take out Hamelin. I think the S.Korean skaters frequently try to take out other skaters if they know they're going down, but his arm was extended out because they were just coming off a turn. His arm would have been there intentionally or not. I'm not a fan of the S.Koreans, but I wouldn't be quick to judge here...

[Colleen]

Earlier tonight there was a story about a referee on the women's short skate that was not working tonight because he had dq the Korean skater that had won the gold. Apparently he was Australian and someone from Korea threatened the Australian embassy in Korea. Crazy stuff! I just think it is ironic that a Canadian referee would not dq one of his own countryman for doing the same thing that Apolo was accused of. By the way, for those of you that say that you saw a push, you want to look at the replay again. If that guy went down from Apolo putting his hand in a vertical manner, then he surely must not have had a good balance to begin with. Apolo stayed up when someone did that to him earlier. Also--did you see the medal ceremony? Somehow I don't think that the bronze medalist should be very proud. It was not truly earned.

[shortstopmommy]

Gee, for a country that has always garnered Canadian respect without really getting it in return (though we deserved it) I expected better. Believe me, we have felt your pain before regarding US judges, discrimination, etc. and now I am embarrassed to hear what we must have sounded like. I apologize for past sour grapes. Sincerely. You guys have a great Olympic team, you dominate in so many sports, why ruin it with poor sportsmanship?

[Dan]

Can anyone explain what was the difference between's Ohno's touch and Hamelin's touch? The NBC commentator indicated the standard is if you are touching a racer when they go down then you will likely get the DSQ. So how was Hamelin's touch not called when Ohno's was? Like Ohno or not - from any country - you can't deny a different standard was applied. And it is not like both touches weren't obvious on video replay.

[Sally]

so this(comments) is what the canadians say.
u guys should look at this fair and square. i hate cheaters and who just thinks about winning. sports are fun! if it was only the south korean that got tripped, the judges would just pretend that they never saw that! that's so racist. just think about this carefully. I WONDER WHY THERE'S SO MUCH COMMOTION IN EVERY GAME THAT APOLO PLAYS.... also, i agree with what Robert said. oh, just saying this, but im not korean.

[isabella]

it's interesting how you guys all think that it wasn't ohnos fault when clearly he pushed the other player, this has nothing to do with canadian judges because there have been many disqualifications in short track and neither of those had to do with helping canadians win. So stop blaming the judges and suck it up!

[DramaMama]

We just watched this race back again several times. Apolo did NOT push. He was obviously trying to keep from colliding, but his arm was bent and withdrawn, not extended. Also, there is a moment where you see the other skater place his entire hand flat on the ice, (not the usual fingertips) he was clearly losing balance BEFORE the so called "push".

[Michael Fan]

That Canadian judge was totally biased and wanted Canada to win. It was Hamelin that pushed while Ohno was just protecting himself so he doesn't run into Tremblay! Terrible call and I'm terribly outraged!

[Steve]

Apollo...sorry.. you pushed him... I do NOT appreciate your comment that you simply co-shined yourself in the race..... You were last and you Straight out PUSHED the Canadian... it had NOTHING to do with the judges being canadian... nothing at all...

... this is coming from a Norwegian...so I am very neutral in my comment... I watched it very carefully.....sorry... sad to see you are a BAD loser that I have experienced MANY Americans to be...

You clearly pushed him... end of story... go watch the video a few more times if you need to....

...oh well...

time to grow up and be a MAN, Ja?

[Dchang]

Uh... and how did Charles Hamelin not get DQed for touching Sung Si-Bak and causing his fall? Talk about subjective application of rules. Nice job Canadian official.

Enjoy those falsely-earned medals.

[Andrew]

The South Korean fell due to Hamelin's push not as a result of Apolo's "push." But this is article is written by a Canadian so no surprise.

[Teri DeBatte]

Absolute insanity.....how can Apolo be disqualified for "touching" the Canadian skater when the Canadian was losing his footing already? Beside, the Koreans are famous for pushing HARD while skating and nothing happens to them? But when gold is at stake, a slight touch on the Canadian skater causes Apolo to be disqualified?????? I am so so so disenchanted by these games now. Fair is fair. Pull up the tapes of the Koreans pushing the hell out of Apolo and nothing happens to them.....unbelievable
He was NOT pushing....there was a Canadian ref and I believe that has a tiny bit to do with this ******* call. These are the olympics......there should be NO bias.

[Peter Michaels]

The question is why wasn't Hammelin DQ'd he took out the Koreans balance hand and shoved him on the shoulder in order to take over first place. Ohno's hand on the hip was minor in comparison. The reality here is that a Canadian ref had the chance to hand canada two medals and take one away from the USA, so he did it. Given Canada's sportsmanship in these games is anyone surprised?

[Bryant]

A canadian ref disqualifies him for that? Really? Sing this to your national anthem "Boooo Cannnadaaa". Bad form. He won. I hope the guy that won the medal while sliding across the ice on his ass enjoyes his medal.

[DSF]

We shouldn't lower ourselves with conspiracy theories about Canadian judges. Let's just agree that the DSQs have been questionable, especially for the Korean Women.

[c.]

the korean skater didnt fall because hamelin pushed him - he lost his balance on his own and almost grabbed hamelin's skate while falling. watch the replay, hamelin wasnt trying to push the korean, he was just trying to regain his balance.