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

[American-Korean]

The Canadian push on the South Korean was more subtle, additionally it appeared to me the South Korean skater was intentionally blocking with his arm. I didn't realize the Canadian push until it was pointed out at the very last moment.

It was clear to me that Ohno pushed the Canadian down. If he didn't push the guy down why does his arm extend into where the Canadian just was? The fact that his arm continued to move through the space, even after the Canadian was down leads me to believe he was pushing on the guy.

[Steven R]

He deserved to get DQ'd. Its amusing how many non skaters are making uninformed opinions on this situation. Most obviously do not understand the rules of Skating.

[Margarette]

Hamelin DID PUSH!!! He is lucky that the competion is in Canadia soil.

[MA]

You yanks are something else. And Ohno now typifies the "ugly American" whining about the Canadian ref's decision. Do any of you rednecks remember the American female ref in the women's gold medal game in Salt Lake City. Those of you who are now backing the pipsqueek skater would be screaming blue murder of another skater had put theit hand on his hip the same way. I used to respect Ohno, but no more. Don't let your mascara run you whiner.

[Scott]

The push was made before his skate touched down. Fair call.

[Swedishflamer]

Dollars and SENSE...Let us clear things up about a few things...Buying the Olympics...

The only reason americans are on top for total medals won is because of a contact agreement with the IOC regarding tv broadcasting rights. As such, the US receives 80 % of all net publicity revenues wich they give back 10 % directly to the IOC and the remaining 20 % is shared with all other nations. For both the 2010 and 2012 games NBS has secured the rights for $2.2 billion U.S..

In the end the USOC gets back 1.54 billion US, NBC gets part of this plus the publicity revenue , the IOC get aboout 22 million US, while all other 79 contries share the remaining 44 million USD for an average share of 2 million each.

all that 1.54 billion USD is put back in sports development in the US, while other nations have scramble and find other ways to promote and develop better athletes. All these other countries except for China, must turn to Corporate and private sponsorship.

Does that seem fair.

Let us put things in perspective. Considering the money spent...for national pride and the size of population.

The US who has paid 1.54 billion USD with a popuation of 304 million US citizens now stand at 8 gold, 13 silver and 13 bronze medals...for a total of 34 medals.

Canada who has invested 2 million FROM IOC + 32 milliom from the private sector and with a population of only 33 million, now have 10 gold, 7 silver and 4 bronze for a total of 21 medals.

On a poulation basis, this means that countries as Canada who have less than 1/10th the US population , this equates to:

304059724 US citizens / 33311389 Canadians = 9.12 let us call this the medal multiplyer

9.12 *10 gold + 9.12 * 7 silver + 9.12 * 4 bronze = 191 .6838 total medals

So factuallly, Canada with a low 32 million dollars investment efectively has
91 Gold, 63 silver and 36 bronze medals

WHO IS TRULY ON TOP ??? please tell me!

And why does OHNO cry afet being caught cheating once again and disqualified?

It is not even about national pride, but rather because of the allmighty USD he will lose on publicity crap and sponsorship.

The games are just about money. The US are just about money!

Ohno is still worthy to be on a box of Wheaties....while he can!

[dave]

It's called FLOPPING, folks. It's done in basketball all the time to try to draw a charging foul. Now it has made its way into short track skating. If you don't have the speed or talent to make a pass and your opponent is "touching" you, fall down! The judges better get wise, or soon they'll be handing out ESPY awards for acting out the best fall in a non-supported role.

[Troy]

Wow, Ohno pulls an Evgeni Plushenko after he's DQ'd and you all rush to his defence.

It certainly was a different story after the sore loser in figure skating ran his mouth that he should have won over the U.S. skater.

Blind patriotism FTW

How many of his medals did he win by being one of the fastest and how many did he win by managing to stay on his feet at the back?

[Taku]

You're so busted, Mr. free rider! Ohno did AGAIN to grab somebody's 4 years efforts and tears.. FINALLY, the judges caught him to make things so right. Ohno should have been learned how to use his hands to knock other players first, before he was trying to learn about skating. Do the math, how many times he got the medals by his OWN perforamance? Ohno is absolutely a lame for team USA and he should be kicked out of his endorsements from many corps.. and AGAIN,
he still complaints after complaints.. I thought the short track game was running by skaters, not with dirty hands and freaking lousy mouth to blame everytime. Shut up and STOP f*king complainting. Ohon just admit it that you have failed this time to steal somebody's medals. and Don't ever do that again.. What did your dad tell ya?? RESPECT others!!

[Rachel]

I watched the video over and over again on internet, and cannot help but say that he did push.....and if anyone watched the 5000m relay, he totally grabbed onto the Korean when they were entering the finish line! Obviously this was not the only time that he used his hands in the games but for the first time finally got caught by the cameras.

[Taku]

You're so busted, Mr. free rider! Ohno did AGAIN to grab somebody's 4 years efforts and tears.. FINALLY, the judges caught him to make things so right. Ohno should have been learned how to use his hands to knock other players first, before he was trying to learn about skating. Do the math, how many times he got the medals by his OWN perforamance? Ohno is absolutely a lame for team USA and he should be kicked out of his endorsements from many corps..
When Ohno got "free medals" by wrong call(which calls gave him"free medals")

he blamed others to claim that " they were pushing, blocking, touching..lol!

When judges finally caught his dirty treaks by videotapes.. he changed the story and tried to cover up his wrong behavior to the "Canadian Judges" .. simply SHAME on TEAM USA. Per his unhappy childhood, I do understand why he keeps trying to blame others not accepting failure...and here we go AGAIN, he still complaints after complaints..
I thought the short track game was running by skaters, not with dirty hands and freaking lousy mouth to blame everytime. Shut up and STOP complainting. Ohno should just admit it that he had failed this time. Don't ever do that again.. What did your dad tell ya?? RESPECT others and you should know there are so many "cool" and "faster" skaters outthere to beat you up and they do not hands and without having lousy mouth. You're like MR. "TOYOTA" that they never accept the failure and tried to cover the nasty fault. N'ugh said.

[James]

If you look at the end of the race hamelin has his hand on the hip of Sung Si-Bak causing him to fall. How come no call??

[Eric Viola]

You people do realize that Ohno clearly "pushed" the Canadian out of the way--a clear violation. For Ohno (an incredibly respected and decoratd Olympian) to reduce himself by calling his disqualification a conspiracy should be embarrassing to himself and the country he represents.

[Eric Viola]

Wow, I am shocked to see that Americans are calling this a biased judgement (clearly their accusations are biased because it was an American ahtelete). Just look at the replay, it was a CLEAR "push" by Ohno. What you people should be arguing about is the manner in which Ohno conducted himself in his final race and his ridiculous accusations after.

[Eliza]

When I saw that Apolo was disqualified, I couldn't believe it. People should actually watch the race before posting on this. In the final turn Apolo put his hand on the hip of Francois Tremblay. Tremblay fell, but it was not due to Ohno. As you can see in slow motion, right before Tremblay falls Ohno starts to remove his hand to speed up. Tremblay fell on his own. Ohno had nothing to do with Si-Bak's fall either. His fall was due to Hamelin's PUSH. Hamelin's arm obviously follows Si-Bak and you can see clearly in slow motion that it was a push. Hamelin should have been disqualified along with Ohno, who didn't deserve to be disqualified. What a joke. A Canadian skater gets gold by pushing a Korean right before the finish and Apolo is prevented from getting silver because another Canadian fell ON HIS OWN. These Vancouver Olympics are a joke. Have problems lighting the torch. Put up a safety wall AFTER a man dies luging. Part of a stage collapses at a concert in an Olympic venue. Ice isn't prepared for racers in longtrack. Come on Vancouver, step it up.

[Ted]

There was no push (period). the arm did not extend, the Canadian fell away from him, Ohno's arm remained in place. The politically correct press has been sticking with the story that Ohno's "leg hit the Canadian" or he "pushed". Don't want to suggest that the host nation actually would impact the medals race. Also note that the Canadian that won made contact with the Korean, but was he DQ'd? No, if the judge will compromise his principle's for a Bronze - then it is no wonder why he didn't see that contact. Hope he sleeps well knowing he sold out. I wonder if the Canadian that benefited from the call actually thinks he was fouled? He and Ohno know the answer to that one....

[Tyler]

Eliza, I couldn't have said it better myself! From the comments about Hamelin's push to the OBVIOUS things that have gone completely wrong with the Vancouver Olympics in general. But you forgot to mention the poorly prepared the terrible conditions on the skiing slopes and the bogus call on the Korean women's relay. (I know the referee there was Australian, but the Korean DQ bumped up the Canadian medal from bronze to silver. Coincidence?) Let's just hope that t he Olympics never return to Canada. The country is obviously not prepared for such an honor.

[MRyder]

DQs are a part of the sport. The athletes know EXACTLY what is allowed and what isn't, as do the referees, regardless of which country they are from. The average poster here probably has no idea of the exact rules or why the referees make the decisions they do. Instead of just crying foul because your favorite lost - and blaming politics because the ref is the same nationality as the skater that benefited - why don't you try to actually understand what happened. You aren't an expert - you can't make the call - and you just look ignorant when you cry foul without understanding what is really happening.

First - the referees have more viewing angles of the encounter than the TV audience do - they can break it down frame by frame, forward and back. Sure we get an angle or two - even looking for it, let's face it NONE of those of us viewing at home could tell exactly what happened.

Second - pay attention to actual ruling. Ohno was disqualified for IMPEDING another skater. From the actual rules of short track "Impeding occurs when a skater hinders another skaters progress. This can happen by bumping or pushing another skater. A tiny bump can throw off another skaters stride, making them slow down in order to regain their balance and rhythm. Touching another skater is not allowed during a race. Usually it's up to the referees discretion to decide whether a touch was accidental or it impeded another skater progress to the finish line."

So what did the referee - who is a highly trained and qualified expert with access to more video of the incident- decide? That Ohno's touch was intentional (he wasn't falling, slipping or being blocked himself) and that intentional touch caused Trembley's progress to be hindered. AND that Hamelin's touch was accidental, possibly due the fact that Si-Bak was already falling or was impeding Hamelin's track. You may disagree - that's your prerogative, but for couch potatoes to cry foul because they don't understand an expert's decision just shows poor sportsmanship.

[LibertyJ]

Trembley has every right to be proud of his bronze. It was awarded to him fair and square - just as Ohno has won and should be proud of his 8 career medals - some of which were won only because people fell at the last minute or where DQ'ed. Don't get me wrong - I'm an Ohno fan and was thrilled to see him get a medal in person during these games - but every skater who has been on the podium in this sport has benefited at one time or another because someone was DQ'ed.

Also, if there was cause for an official complaint, the American team had every right to file such a complaint and ask for an inquiry. They did not, which shows that the American officials did not share Ohno's disagreement with the call. I give a big two thumbs down to the athletes who have aired grievances in the press - whether Pleshenko, Ohno or Canadians such as Morrison and Lueders. If you have a problem - deal with it properly and professionally - don't just cry and complain to the first microphone you see.

And how come none of you "NO FAIR" whiners are complaining that the Korean women relay team was DQed giving the US a bronze medal? That was a much more controversial call - no one fell, no one even changed positions in the race, and there was no touch - just two skates vying for the same ice space. Are you all okay with that call? Where is your outrage there?

[TTMax]

Funny - if you read Ohno's comments, he doesn't even actually say it was unfair. He makes a provacative comment - simply that it was a Canadian referee and two Canadians in the final and leaves the rest to the imagination of a rabid American public.

Please note - Canadians have also been DQed for their actions during these games. There was another final which contained 2 Canadians (out of 5) and saw both finish off the podium. Surely if there was a conspiracy, we would have seen favoritism long before the final individual race of the games.

Also, the US has also benefited from DQ's - the women's relay team won bronze only after Korea was DQed.

[August Jaffe]

Re-run the video. Everyone, including the two refs, are so busy watching what Ohno was doing that they totally missed Charles Hamelin's hand go up under the leader, Korea's Sung Si-Bak's left side, watch Hamelin's white gloved hand as he PUSHES Sung Si-Bak and causes him to lose control, then Hamelin trips as he nearly runs over Si-Bak's left hand. Si-Bak went out of control because Hamelin PUSHED him. We watched the video a number of times and one particular angle undeniably shows Hameli's white gloved hand go up on Si-Bak's side then PUSH him to the right, that is the exact point when Si-Bak lost control. That race should have been re-run. Too many people were focused on Ohno and entirely missed the real foul from Hamelin. Hamelin's huge foul led to his gold.

[August Jaffe]

"Ohno appeared to push Francois-Louis Tremblay of Canada on the final turn, causing Tremblay and South Korean skater Sung Si-Bak to fall." Did you notice that Hamelin was between Tremblay and Sung? Did you notice the white gloved hand of Hamelin reach up and push Sung to his right thereby causing Sung to crash? Review the online video. One particular angle leaves no doubt that Hamelin fouled the leader to advance himself in the race.

[Ignorance]

You Ohno lovers are so ignorant. The call was fair. The whole words sees that besides you guys. It has nothing to do with the judge being Canadian. Ohno has a string of controversies that follow his shady/dodgy skating . He may well have a few medals on his shelf but he is in no way a sportsman and I would certainly say that he does not command any respect from other people in the sport.

So stop complaining like a bunch of kids and get over the fact that Ohno had it coming - i'm surprised this is the first time in these olympics

[K Paige]

Ohno's hand was on the Canadian's hip. He started a chain reaction and when the two skaters fell, the Canadian in front put out his hand to stop himself from falling. That's why it looks like the Canadian put his hand on the Korean skater. He didn't do this before the Korean was going down.

It's funny how the NBC commentator (who was that jokeer?) was asked three times if the Korean had been pushed and he said no all three times but as soon as Ohno whined, the commentator changed his story. Pathetic.

Ohno is a dirty skater and had both been on both ends of the disqualification rules. He's just such a baby.

The Canadian won the gold. Boy, more and more we Americans are sounding a lot like the Russians.

[Bob H]

As a Canadian I would just like to say that if you haven't figured out by now that we go out of our way to be fair and try our hardest to be unbiased when it comes to the letter of the law then you are letting your US patriotism get the best of you. I don't normally comment on these types of things but when your young Mr. Ono has an NBC microphone in his face (as if nobody but his countrymen will see) his comments unveiled his character. I have played sports with my US cousins and they have had the same attitude in the face of defeat. We call it a Losers Limp.