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© St. Petersburg Times, published February 23, 2002
Dutchman sets record, reigns in speed skating
KEARNS, Utah -- Skating 25 times around the Utah Olympic Oval, Jochem Uytdehaage had no time to worry about the crowd or a world record or the honor of the Netherlands or the skater in the other lane, Derek Parra, the darling of the home audience.
"No, I just skate and skate and skate," Uytdehaage said.
Uytdehaage, 25, performed as no one had before in the grueling 10,000 meters Friday. He became the first to break the 13-minute mark for the distance of about 6.2 miles and won his second gold medal of the Games.
His time of 12 minutes, 58.92 seconds was nearly 41/2 seconds faster than the mark set by countryman Gianni Romme in November 2000. Romme took the silver medal Friday, and Lasse Saetre of Norway picked up the bronze.
The United States could not add to its record haul of eight medals. Parra, of Orlando, winner of gold and silver medals earlier in the Games, had little left in his tank and finished 13th out of the 16 contestants in 13:33.44.
Jason Hedstrand of Milwaukee finished one notch better than Parra and set an American record of 13:32.99.
Uytdehaage, in only his second full season of international competition, left Utah as the big winner in men's speed skating. He trumped Parra's world record in the 5,000 to take gold, then saw his world record bettered by Parra and settled for silver in the 1,500.
"I was more relaxed because I already got gold and silver," Uytdehaage said. "I knew I was a good skater, but no one has seen me on a fast ice rink before. You saw the results."
Parra, who skated in the pair with Uytdehaage, said, "He's the king of these Olympics in speed skating. He looks so efficient. He's enjoying skating. He's on fire."
MEN'S CURLING: Canadian Kevin Martin has a new title: The Best Curler Without a Major Championship.
In a stunner, Norway won the gold medal when Martin's final throw, the last of the tournament, slid past the blue scoring button.
"I heard the sweepers say it was heavy all the way," said Norwegian captain Paal Trulsen, meaning Martin's stone was moving too fast.
With King Harald watching from the stands, the Norwegians played even with Martin's mighty Canadians and pulled off the upset 6-5.
Trulsen was closer to the mark on his final throw than Martin was. "It was a little deep, about an inch," Martin said.
The mostly Canadian crowd of 1,500 rose to its feet and cheered as Martin's rock rumbled down the ice sheet. But it was Trulsen who raised his arms in victory when the Canadian stone kept sliding.
"It was an easy shot to win the game," Martin said. "It was less than an inch. I'll be fine. You just hate to miss the last shot."
Martin is president of the World Curling Players Association and runs an Edmonton academy, a star in a land where curlers have agents and the sport ranks second only to hockey.
Earlier, Switzerland beat Sweden 7-3 in the bronze-medal game.
SKIING: Finland's Samppa Lajunen completed a sweep of the three Nordic combined events by winning the sprint.
Lajunen, the leader after Thursday's ski-jumping competition, began the 7.5-kilometer cross-country race at Soldier Hollow 15 seconds ahead of Germany's Ronny Ackermann. The Finn kept the lead for most of the race and finished in 16:40.1 -- 9 seconds ahead of Ackermann.
Felix Gottwald of Austria moved up eight spots to take the bronze.
Todd Lodwick started 12th but finished fifth, the best showing ever by an American in the sport. The previous best was Lodwick's seventh place in the individual competition on Feb. 10.
Lodwick began 56 seconds behind the leader and at one point moved to third. Among the other Americans, Bill Demong finished 14th, Johnny Spillane 32nd and Matt Dayton 36th.
The Finns hadn't won gold in Nordic combined since 1948, but were clearly the best at these Games. Lajunen, 22, also won the individual and anchored the winning relay team.
BOBSLEDDING: Todd Hays, trying to end 46 years of U.S. failure in men's Olympic competition, was in first place after the first two heats in the four-man event.
Hays, a former linebacker at Tulsa, powered the USA-1 sled to a time of 1:33.26 in front of a rowdy crowd starting to believe that Utah Olympic Park has become a magic mountain for Americans.
They have won gold in the past three events -- women's bobsled and men's and women's skeleton -- on the canyon course at Park City.
Hays led Switzerland-1 and Germany-2 by .09 seconds entering today's final two heats.
Christoph Langen, who won gold in two-man and is the defending four-man champion from Nagano, injured his heel on the start of the second heat and is in sixth place at 1:33.68. He said if the injury is too serious he would not continue.
Brian Shimer of Naples, appearing in his fifth and final Games, piloted USA-2 to 1:33.65 and is in fifth.
With a .06 lead after a first run of 46.65 seconds, Hays guided his red sled with the two bald eagles painted on both sides down the 16-curve track without a problem, finishing in 46.61, the fastest run of the day.
Hays just missed a bronze medal in the two-man event, blaming his fourth-place finish on nerves and some erratic driving. He promised to do better in the four-man race, and so far, he has.
"He's just got to put together two good runs," Shimer said, "and those guys aren't going to catch him."
Shimer has a shot at a medal, too.
The 39-year-old, edged out of a bronze in Nagano by .02 seconds in the four-man, got slow starts in both runs. But his experience helped him make up time all the way to the bottom, and he'll enter his final day of competition .30 seconds out of third.
"That's going to be hard to make up," he said. "But there's no use in holding back. It's the last day of my career."
The team from the U.S. Virgin Islands dropped out of the competition after a crash during the first heat.
Driver Keith Sudziarski needed eight stitches in his knee after he lost control of the sled on the bottom part of the track.
He was given medical clearance to make his second run but declined and the team dropped out.