Short track speed skating is a sport that is contested at the Winter Olympic Games. The first Winter Olympics, held in 1924, included speed skating, but the first official short track speed skating events were not held until the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France. Before 1992, short track speed skating events were held at the 1988 Winter Olympics as a demonstration sport. At those games, events for both men and women were held in five disciplines: 500 metre, 1000 metre, 1500 metre, 3000 metre and the relay (3000 metres for women, 5000 metres for men). The Netherlands, United Kingdom and South Korea won two gold medals each, with Canada, Italy, Japan and China picking up a gold medal each. The results of those demonstration events are not considered official and are not included in this list. At the 1992 Winter Olympics, there were four medal events: men's 1000 metres, men's 5000 metre relay, women's 500 metres and women's 3000 metre relay. Men's 500 metres and women's 1000 metres was added in 1994. The men's and women's 1500 metres were added in 2002 and all eight events have been held at every Olympic Games since.
Wang Meng of China is the most decorated short-tracker in Olympics, having won four gold medals, a silver and a bronze. South Korean Chun Lee-Kyung has also won four gold medals (the first one to have done so, in 1998), as well as a bronze medal. American Apolo Anton Ohno has won eight medals (two gold, two silver, four bronze), the most of any short-track speed skater. Tania Vincient of Canada is the oldest athlete to medal; she was 34 in 2010 when she won a silver medal in the 3000 metre relay. Kim Yoon-Mi of South Korea is the youngest; she was 13 when she won a gold in the same event.
At the 1992 Winter Olympics, South Korea's Kim Ki-hoon became the first short track speed skater to win two gold medals, by winning gold medals in both of the available events (1000m, 5000m relay). In 1994 Kim (1000m) and American Cathy Turner (500m) became the first to successfully defend their respective Olympic title; Kim thus became the first short-tracker to win three Olympic gold medals. Since then Chun Lee-Kyung of South Korea (1000m, 1994-1998) and Wang Meng of China (500m, 2006-2010) also defended an individual Olympic title. In 1998, Chun and Yang Yang (S) of China became the first short-tracker to win three medals in one Olympic. By helping South Korea to defend 3000m relay title as well as defending her 1000m gold medal, Chun became the first (and thus far, only) athlete to successfully defend two Olympic titles. In 2006, South Korea's Jin Sun-Yu and then Ahn Hyun-Soo became the first two short-trackers to have won three gold medals in one Olympic. Ahn also won a bronze medal in the same Games, becoming the first (and thus far, only) short-tracker to win four medals in one Olympic. In 2010, Wang became the first (and thus far, only) athlete to have won three individual gold medals in the sport.
South Korean short track speed skaters have won a combined 37 medals, including 19 golds, more than any other nation in both measures. South Korea is also the only country to have won at least one gold medal at every Olympics in which short-track speed skating has been held; Canada and China shares with South Korea the honour of being the only nations to have athletes win a medal at every Olympics in the sport. As of the 2010 Winter Olympics, 120 medals (40 of each color) have been awarded and have been won by short track speed skaters from 11 National Olympic Committees (NOC).
| Table of contents | |
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| Men |
500 m • 1000 m • 1500 m • 5000 m relay |
| Women |
500 m • 1000 m • 1500 m • 3000 m relay |
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Statistics See also References |
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—Charles Baudelaire (1821–1867)
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—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)