World champion Nao Kodaira shook off the pressure of the biggest race of her life Sunday to become Japan’s first female Olympic speed-skating gold medallist by capturing the 500m title.
Coming off a silver-medal 1,000m effort, Kodaira dethroned two-time defending champion Lee Sang-hwa of South Korea to win in an Olympic-record 36.94 seconds with Lee taking silver in 37.33sec, just 0.01sec ahead of third-place Karolina Erbanova of the Czech Republic.
“I was under big pressure. I fought well,” Kodaira said.
“I was racing for the whole Japanese delegation. I knew I had the attention of all the Japanese people. All I could do is skate the way I was supposed to skate. I’m glad I did what I practiced and prepared.”
Kodaira, who has won her past 15 World Cup 500m starts, is only the second speed skater from her homeland to take Olympic gold after Hiroyasu Shimizu in the men’s 500m in 1998.
It was a same-oval rematch of last year’s 500m world championship battle, where Kodaira edged Lee, and after the race, Kodaira shared a victory lap with her long-time rival, displaying their flags together.
“Sport makes the world one, together and simple,” Kodaira said.
“She was so proud of me and I was so proud of her, especially after she did the 1,000,” Lee said.
Kodaira broke Lee’s old Olympic mark by 0.34sec and posted the time to beat just before Lee raced in the penultimate pair.
Lee was on pace to take the lead after the first 100 but faded and when the last duo could not crack the podium, the gold belonged to Kodaira.
“Doesn’t matter. I still have two gold medals. I was really happy I got silver medal — before the race I was really nervous,” Lee said.
Tears after the race were of happiness, Lee stressed.
“I don’t have any disappointment. I don’t have any regrets,” she said. “I think I did really well to get the silver medal.”
Dutch coaches guide Japan’s women and it was a trip to the Netherlands that helped produce golden results for the 31-year-old Japanese barrier-breaker.
“The reason I went to Holland was not only to learn technique but also the skating culture,” she said. “That was more important to me.”
Kodaira became only the third reigning world champion to claim 500m women’s Olympic gold after Lee in 2014 and Canadian Catriona Le May Doan in 2002.
The only prior Japanese woman to medal at 500m in Winter Olympic history was 1998 Nagano bronze medallist Tomomi Okazaki.
One week shy of her 29th birthday, Lee failed in her bid to win on home ice but still received a thunderous ovation from the crowd.
Lee, who had delayed surgery on a chronic left knee injury until after Pyeongchang, still owns the 500m world record of 36.36 seconds.┬аSouth Korea, New Zealand, Netherlands and Norway advanced to Wednesday’s men’s team pursuit semi-finals. (AFP)
