| | Event type

500 metres, Men

Date	23 February 2002
Status	Olympic
Location	Salt Lake Ice Center, Salt Lake City, Utah
Participants	32 from 20 countries
Format	Placements 1-8 based on final and B final. Deeper placements based on points earned in earlier rounds, and time in final round skated.
Olympic Record	42.756 / Takafumi Nishitani JPN / 21 February 1998

After his two medals in the 1,000 m and 1,500 m, many of the spectators in the Salt Lake Ice Center were hoping for Apolo Anton Ohno to win a third medal. He was expected to cross blades again with Kim Dong-Seong, who was looking for revenge after his disqualification in the 1,500 m. And while World Record holder Jeffrey Scholten was not selected, the Canadians were assumed to have a shot at a medal, especially Marc Gagnon.

Of these favorites, only Gagnon made it to the final. Ohno was disqualified for an illegal overtaking move in his semi-final, while Kim was narrowly outskated in his. Gagnon did make the final, for the third time in a row. Both in 1994 and 1998, he had fallen and finished outside of the medals. But in Salt Lake, things finally went his way. In a very fast race, the four-time World Champion won the gold ahead of his team mate Jonathan Guilmette and Rusty Smith (USA). It was Gagnon’s second Olympic gold medal after his 1998 relay gold, and he would add another one later on the evening, when the Canadians successfully defended their title.

Pos	Nr	Skater	NOC	Points	Best Time
1	315	Marc Gagnon	CAN	–	–	Gold
2	316	Jonathan Guilmette	CAN	–	–	Silver
3	370	Rusty Smith	USA	–	–	Bronze
4	321	Feng Kai	CHN	–	–
5	347	Satoru Terao	JPN	–	–
6	350	Kim Dong-Seong	KOR	–	–
7	307	Wim De Deyne	BEL	–	–
8	343	Takafumi Nishitani	JPN	47	42.535
9	339	Fabio Carta	ITA	47	43.113
10	324	Li Jiajun	CHN	47	43.690
11	369	Apolo Anton Ohno	USA	42	42.895
12	340	Nicola Franceschina	ITA	34	42.876
13	310	Simon Van Vossel	BEL	34	43.119
14	300	Steven Bradbury	AUS	34	43.225
15	333	Arian Nachbar	GER	29	43.626
16	327	Bruno Loscos	FRA	29	43.787
17	328	Ludovic Mathieu	FRA	21	43.790
18	334	Balázs Knoch	HUN	13	42.533
19	329	Dave Allardice	GBR	13	42.980
20	357	Cees Juffermans	NED	13	43.253
21	364	Martin Johansson	SWE	13	43.435
22	330	Leon Flack	GBR	13	43.965
23	335	Krisztián Szabó	HUN	13	44.143
24	363	Matúš Užák	SVK	13	44.499
25	311	Miroslav Boyadzhiev	BUL	8	43.462
26	358	Mark Jackson	NZL	8	44.064
27	362	Krystian Zdrojkowski	POL	8	44.117
28	304	Andrew McNee	AUS	8	44.289
29	354	Ganbatyn Jargalanchuluun	MGL	8	52.225
30	365	Volodymyr Hryhor'iev	UKR	8	1:10.431
31	312	Asen Pandov	BUL	8	1:17.124
DQ	351	Lee Seung-Jae	KOR	–	–

Round One (23 February 2002 — 18:00)

Top two finishers in each heat advanced to quarter-finals.

Heat One

Pos	Lane	Skater	NOC	Time	Points
1	3	Li Jiajun	CHN	43.690	34	Q
2	1	Arian Nachbar	GER	44.057	21	Q
3	4	Matúš Užák	SVK	44.499	13
4	2	Asen Pandov	BUL	1:17.124	8

Heat Two

Pos	Lane	Skater	NOC	Time	Points
1	2	Simon Van Vossel	BEL	43.119	34	Q
2	3	Apolo Anton Ohno	USA	43.214	21	Q
3	1	Cees Juffermans	NED	43.253	13
4	4	Andrew McNee	AUS	44.289	8

Heat Three

Pos	Lane	Skater	NOC	Time	Points
1	2	Takafumi Nishitani	JPN	43.211	34	Q
2	3	Marc Gagnon	CAN	43.395	21	Q
3	4	Krisztián Szabó	HUN	44.143	13
4	1	Volodymyr Hryhor'iev	UKR	1:10.431	8

Heat Four

Pos	Lane	Skater	NOC	Time	Points
1	3	Kim Dong-Seong	KOR	42.834	34	Q
2	1	Rusty Smith	USA	42.849	21	Q
3	2	Dave Allardice	GBR	42.980	13
4	4	Ganbatyn Jargalanchuluun	MGL	52.225	8

Heat Five

Pos	Lane	Skater	NOC	Time	Points
1	3	Fabio Carta	ITA	43.787	34	Q
2	1	Bruno Loscos	FRA	43.864	21	Q
3	4	Leon Flack	GBR	43.965	13
4	2	Mark Jackson	NZL	44.064	8

Heat Six

Pos	Lane	Skater	NOC	Time	Points
1	1	Feng Kai	CHN	43.084	34	Q
2	2	Wim De Deyne	BEL	43.205	21	Q
3	3	Martin Johansson	SWE	43.435	13
4	4	Krystian Zdrojkowski	POL	44.117	8

Heat Seven

Pos	Lane	Skater	NOC	Time	Points
1	3	Jonathan Guilmette	CAN	42.326	34	QOR
2	2	Satoru Terao	JPN	42.334	21	Q
3	1	Balázs Knoch	HUN	42.533	13
4	4	Miroslav Boyadzhiev	BUL	43.462	8

Heat Eight

Pos	Lane	Skater	NOC	Time	Points
1	4	Nicola Franceschina	ITA	42.876	34	Q
2	2	Steven Bradbury	AUS	43.225	21	Q
3	3	Ludovic Mathieu	FRA	43.790	13	ADV
DQ	1	Lee Seung-Jae	KOR	–	–

Quarter-Finals (23 February 2002 — 19:10)

Top two finishers in each heat advanced to semi-finals.

Heat One

Pos	Lane	Skater	NOC	Time	Points
1	2	Jonathan Guilmette	CAN	42.809	34	Q
2	4	Apolo Anton Ohno	USA	42.895	21	Q
3	3	Fabio Carta	ITA	43.113	13
4	1	Arian Nachbar	GER	43.626	8

Heat Two

Pos	Lane	Skater	NOC	Time	Points
1	1	Rusty Smith	USA	42.359	34	Q
2	4	Marc Gagnon	CAN	42.384	21	Q
3	2	Takafumi Nishitani	JPN	42.535	13
DQ	3	Nicola Franceschina	ITA	–	–

Heat Three

Pos	Lane	Skater	NOC	Time	Points
1	2	Kim Dong-Seong	KOR	41.806	34	QOR
2	1	Wim De Deyne	BEL	41.832	21	Q
3	4	Li Jiajun	CHN	1:04.514	13
4	3	Bruno Loscos	FRA	1:39.879	8

Heat Four

Pos	Lane	Skater	NOC	Time	Points
1	2	Satoru Terao	JPN	42.692	34	Q
2	3	Feng Kai	CHN	42.820	21	Q
3	4	Steven Bradbury	AUS	44.982	13
4	5	Ludovic Mathieu	FRA	1:13.328	8
DQ	1	Simon Van Vossel	BEL	–	–

Semi-Finals (23 February 2002 — 19:36)

Top two finishers in each heat advanced to final.

Heat One

Pos	Lane	Skater	NOC	Time	Points
1	2	Rusty Smith	USA	41.916	34	Q
2	4	Marc Gagnon	CAN	41.981	21	Q
3	1	Kim Dong-Seong	KOR	41.990	13	QB
4	3	Wim De Deyne	BEL	42.823	8	QB

Heat Two

Pos	Lane	Skater	NOC	Time	Points
1	2	Jonathan Guilmette	CAN	42.201	34	Q
2	4	Feng Kai	CHN	42.266	21	Q
3	3	Satoru Terao	JPN	1:05.790	13	ADV
DQ	1	Apolo Anton Ohno	USA	–	–

Final Round (23 February 2002 — 20:07)

B Final

Pos	Lane	Skater	NOC	Time
1	1	Kim Dong-Seong	KOR	42.076
2	2	Wim De Deyne	BEL	42.961

A Final (20:07)

Pos	Lane	Skater	NOC	Time
1	1	Marc Gagnon	CAN	41.802	OR
2	4	Jonathan Guilmette	CAN	41.994
3	2	Rusty Smith	USA	42.027
4	3	Feng Kai	CHN	42.112
5	5	Satoru Terao	JPN	42.219