Here we go again. Just as the black cloud of controversy was lifting from these games, along comes another dispute to whip the United States media into a froth of righteous indignation.
Five days after concerns over judging integrity in the pairs figure skating resulted in days of turmoil and the awarding of a second set of gold medals, the men's 1,000 metres short-track speedskating produced a bizarre finish which had the Americans again crying foul.
They are furious that the Australian chief referee Jim Hewish failed to rerun the race after his countryman Steven Bradbury claimed the gold medal and the American Apolo Anton Ohno only the silver after four of the five competitors fell on the final bend.
"The chief referee makes the decision. He can review a video and replay. [South Korean] Ahn Hyun-soo clearly fell [and caused the crash] yet he was not disqualified," said Eric Flaim, a former US speed skater commentating for NBC.
"The skaters who were fouled had no remedy. It doesn't seem right for the sport. The only remedy is to rerun the race and give a chance for Ohno to win the gold."
The Salt Lake crowd booed loudly when it was announced the result would stand and an American spectator told Bradbury to "wipe that grin off your face, buddy" as he headed to the medal ceremony.
The complaints are echoes of the campaign that resulted in the promotion of silver medallist pairs skaters Jamie Sale and David Pelletier to the gold medal alongside their Russian counterparts.
Even Bradbury could not quite believe his luck as the path cleared before him, allowing him to become the first Australian to win a gold medal in the history of the Winter games. He thought the race would be rerun as Hewish, president of Ice Skating Australia, conferred with judges following the finish.
"I went over first and for a split second I thought 'Oh, my God, I have won', and then the judges were talking and I was very confident they would have a rerace," said Bradbury. "I don't know if there is cause for a rerace, but I am glad they didn't."
Hewish was instructed afterwards by the International Skating Union not to talk to the media. The four judges met after the event and discussed the issue. The ISU rules allow for the chief referee to determine if a race should be rerun or not.
Earlier in the week Hewish was the chief judge who ordered a rerace of the 5,000m short-track relay team event, to the cost of the Australian team, even though the final skater Bradbury had crossed the line and qualified for the final.
"He stopped that race and made it rerun and that was not in our interests, so his independence can't be queried given his experience here," the Australian team chief Ian Chesterman said of Hewish.
Nevertheless, Bradbury, 28, may well be the luckiest Olympic champion ever in the games' 106-year history. He survived in the quarter-final after being promoted to third when the second-placed Canadian was disqualified for pushing. And in the semi-final, he was last with a lap to go, only for the other four skaters to trip one another and leave him as the winner.
Against incalculable odds, the final ran an identical course. Bradbury was tailing off last when, on the last corner of the last lap, 15 metres from the finish, the four other skaters cannoned into each other and crashed to the ice.
He was not implicated in the collision and was in what one commentator called a "unique vantage spot" to win. Short-track skaters race tightly and frenetically around a 111m track, making for many thrills and regular spills.
"It's the nature of the sport, especially at the Olympics," Bradbury said. "Maybe not four guys. But I was expecting two to go down in the final, and maybe to get a bronze.
"I wasn't the fastest skater on the ice tonight. I was obviously not the most deserving guy. I had a lot of luck on my side.
"But I won't take the race for the 1 minutes it was on. I'll take it for the 10 years of hard work that I put in. I'll take it as a reward."
After a 1994 crash, Bradbury lost four litres of blood, had 111 stitches in his leg and was lucky to live. Two years ago, after crashing at training, he broke two vertebrae and had to wear a brace for a month.
He owns the Revolutionary Boot Company in Brisbane, supplying skating boots to, among others, Ohno. On Friday, he emailed Ohno to say: "If you win gold, make sure you give me a mention!"
Ohno was judged second and the Canadian Mathieu Turcotte third. Ohno had six stitches inserted in his leg and needed to be taken to the medal ceremony in a wheelchair while Turcotte had a cut on his posterior that made it painful for him to sit down. These were injuries added to insults.
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