RICHMOND, British Columbia — Lee Seung-hoon of South Korea won a stunning gold medal in men’s 10,000-meter speedskating Tuesday when the overwhelming favorite, Sven Kramer, made an amateurish mistake, failing to switch lanes with a certain victory in his sights, and was disqualified.
Kramer finished more than four seconds ahead of Lee, but it didn’t matter. Lee already was hugging his coaches on the infield while the Dutch world-record holder was finishing up his race.
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As Kramer came across the line, he flipped down his hood and threw up his arms, believing he won his second gold medal of the Vancouver Games. Then as he was coasting on the backstretch, Kramer’s coach told him he had skated the last eight laps in the wrong lane.
The coach, Gerard Kemkers, had given his skater the wrong instruction.
”It is pretty hard now,” Kramer said. ”I was on my way to make the right decision and right before the corner I changed my decision because of the advice from the (coach). At the end of the day, it is my responsibility. I am the skater on the ice. I have to do it.”
Lee won with an Olympic-record time of 12 minutes, 58.55 seconds, breaking the mark of 12:58.92 set by Jochem Uytdehaage of the Netherlands at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games.
The silver went to Ivan Skobrev of Russia (13:02.07), while the defending Olympic champion, Bob de Jong, ended up with a bronze (13:06.73).
This was the second straight Olympics that a silly mistake cost Kramer a likely gold medal. At the 2006 Turin Games, he stepped on a lane marker and fell during the semifinals of team pursuit, an event his country was overwhelmingly favored to win.
”I really feel bad for Kramer,” said Skobrev, who added to his bronze in the 5,000. ”He is the best skater in the world. Sven made a mistake. That is his fault. My medal was bronze, but I have silver.”
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