Olympics

Nao Kodaira wins 500m gold medal, ends Lee Sang-Hwa's Olympic dominance

By: Antonio Salazar


Kodaira wins first Olympic gold medal

Nao Kodaira (JPN) continued her almsot two-year undefeated run in the 500m, winning the gold medal in PyeongChang.


Kodaira did not succumb to the pressure that has been put on her by Japanese media and fans, and became the first Japanese 500m Olympic champion.

Prior to PyeongChang, Japanese women had won just 4 Olympic speed skating medals. They’ve already won 4 at these Olympics.

Lee Seung-Hwa (KOR) has become notorious for crying after her wins, but today the two-time 500m gold medalist was emotional for a different reason. Lee finished .39 seconds behind Kodaira, earning silver.

Prior to the Games, Lee spoke about how a win in her country would be special. Despite not getting the win, the South Korean fans were still very supportive of Lee as chants of her name filled the arena after her race.

"I don't care about silver or bronze or gold, because I already have two gold medals for the Olympic Games, but it's here in Korea so it was really exciting to hear many Koreans cheering for us," Lee said following the race.

In a true show of sportsmanship, Kodaira consoled the two-time Olympic champion as the reality that she would not win her third straight 500m gold medal set in.

Karolina Erbanova (CZE) snuck into third place. Erbanova was paired with Kodaira and as is often the case, the gold medalist brought out the best in her.

"It's amazing. I've been fourth in the World Cup so many times, and now the right time is there. It's like, really happy," Erbanova said after the race. "Yeah, it was for sure pressure but I had a really good pair. I knew it was going to open very fast. I knew if I could keep up, it's really good, and I was coming very close at the finish."

Brittany Bowe (USA) was in first place following her race, but for the third time these Games, was bumped off the podium late. Bowe has now finished fourth or fifth in all three of her races.

Heather Bergsma (USA) was not able to improve her dissapointing Olympic performance in the 500m.

Bergsma and Bowe will both likely compete in the team pursuit.

Erin Jackson (USA) made her Olympic debut and concluded her participation in PyeongChang.