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From the Olympics Toward Tomorrow
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Postma lands 1,000 meter gold, Shimizu wins 2nd medal
 Japan's Hiroyasu Shimizu |
15:00- Start
Last year, Ids Postma shunned the slap skates. On Sunday, the clap-clap-clap echo of the innovative blades followed in his wake as he stunned the opposition at one of his ''weaker'' distances.
Postma mined Olympic gold with a superb performance in the men's 1,000 meters and pulled off a huge upset over fellow Dutch countryman and reigning world sprint champion Jan Bos.
Postma, who took silver in the 1,500 meters Thursday, posted an Olympic record of 1 minute, 10.64 seconds to nip Bos by a mere 0.07 second. Japan's Hiroyasu Shimizu clocked 1:11.00 to add the bronze medal to his 500-meter gold won last Tuesday.
At last year's world championships here in Nagano, Postma wondered aloud whether the hinged skates -- while excellent for the distance races -- were, perhaps, unsafe in the sprint events.
But on Sunday, the lanky 24-year-old from Friesland was phenomenal on his clappers.
Postma then had a nail-biting wait for the last 10 skaters, four of whom had broken the world record this season, to finish their race.
When his time held, he leaped into the air and hugged his coaches before hundreds of jubilant Dutch fans clad in orange.
''Jan was the star this year but I had good luck today and I was faster,'' Postma said.
The victory erased a week of frustration for Postma at the M-Wave Olympic oval, the same track where he won the all-around world championship on normal blades last year.
He took a spill around the first curve of the men's 500 meters event Monday. On Thursday, a stumble around the last bend of the 1,500 meters cost him the gold and he had to settle for silver.
At the other end of the emotional spectrum stood Canadian world record holder Jeremy Wotherspoon, who rode his slap skates to incredible success in the World Cup this season.
Wotherspoon had a fine start and was in medal contention with 400 meters to go, but struggled around the final bend to end up sixth in 1:11.39. He stared at the time on the scoreboard with a look of sheer disbelief.
Shimizu, a 500-meter specialist, had an excellent start and maintained momentum through the 2-1/2 lap race before exulting in deafening cheers of the Japanese faithful filling the stands.
''I skated today in my best possible shape,'' said Shimizu, adding he felt inspired to improve upon his 19th place finish at the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics after watching ski jumper Kazuyoshi Funaki win the large hill title on television Sunday morning.
Shimizu and Funaki both hail from Hokkaido in northern Japan and are the only Japanese double medalists of the Nagano Winter Games so far.
First-time Olympian Yusuke Imai skated a personal best of 1:11.96 and placed 11th while Japanese teammate and Lillehammer Olympic bronze medalist Manabu Horii was 17th.
(Kyodo News)
Results of speed skating men's 1,000 meters Sunday in the 18th Olympic Winter Games at M-Wave indoor oval, Nagano:
1. Ids Postma, Netherlands 1 minute, 10.64 seconds (Olympic record)
2. Jan Bos, Netherlands 1:10.71
3. Hiroyasu Shimizu, Japan 1:11.00
4. Jakko Leeuwangh, Netherlands 1:11.26
5. Sylvain Bouchard, Canada 1:11.29
6. Jeremy Wotherspoon, Canada 1:11.39
7. Casey FitzRandolph, U.S. 1:11.64
8. KC Boutiette, U.S. 1:11.75
9. Peter Adeberg, Germany 1:11.90
9. Kevin Overland, Canada 1:11.90
-----
11. Yusuke Imai, Japan 1:11.96
13. Lee Kyu Hyuk, South Korea 1:12.05
17. Sergey Tsybenko, Kazakstan 1:12.40
17. Manabu Horii, Japan 1:12.40
20. Kim Yoon Man, South Korea 1:12.50
21. Chun Joo Hyun, South Korea 1:12.55
25. Hiroyuki Noake, Japan 1:12.68
30. Jaegal Sung Yeol, South Korea 1:13.09
36. Dai Dengwen, China 1:14.20
37. Vladimir Klepinin, Kazakstan 1:14.38
38. Li Yu, China 1:14.50
40. Liu Hongbo, China 1:15.06
Wu Fenglong, China Did not finish
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Copyright 1999 The Shinano Mainichi Shimbun