500 metres, Women

The dominant skater of the past Olympics, Yang Yang (A), had not been selected for this race, although she had won this event at the 2005 World Championships. But China had a successor in place already. Wang Meng had won all four World Cup races prior to the Olympics, and had been a World Champion in the event in 2004, being runner-up in 2005.

Wang easily made the final, where she was opposed by teammate Fu Tianyu, Anouk Leblanc-Boucher of Canada, and the 2002 silver medallist, Evgeniya Radanova, who had since competed as a track cyclist in the 2004 Summer Olympics. Wang was fastest off the line, and never gave away her lead. The finish was close, however, having about a blade’s length advantage over Radanova. A similar margin separated third and fourth place, with Leblanc-Boucher taking the bronze. Fu was later even disqualified for an earlier infringement. Even then, Canadian officials disputed the result, as video replays showed Radanova had finished with her skate in the air, which is disallowed for safety reasons. They even filed a complaint with the Court of Arbitration for Sport, but it was denied.

Wang’s victory celebrations didn’t go as well as the race: she tripped over the Chinese flag she was waving around during her victory lap.