Led by double gold-medalist Yang Yang (A), China won the most short track speed skating medals at the 2002 Olympic Winter Games with seven, one more than Canada.

There were 24 medals awarded in the four nights of competition, with China, Korea and Canada each winning two gold medals. Australia and the United States of America each captured one gold. It was the highest number of medals ever awarded in short track at an Olympic Winter Games, because of the additions of 1500 m individual races for both men and women.

Canada won five men's medals, with the U.S. men second with three medals, including two by Apolo Anton Ohno. China (5) and Korea (4) combined to win nine of the 12 awarded medals in the women's competition.

Yang (A) and Marc Gagnon (CAN) each left the 2002 Olympic Winter Games with three medals overall.

The first gold medal in short track at these Games seemed destined to go to Yang (A), who appeared poised to finally become the first gold-medalist in Chinese history at the Winter Olympics. Instead, Gi-Hyun Ko -- who was 9 years old when Yang (A) won her first World Cup event -- pulled off a stunner in winning the ladies' 1500 m event in 2:31.581.

The win by Ko made her the youngest individual ladies' competitor in Olympic short track history to win a gold medal -- 15 years, 287 days. "I am very happy I was able to give this gold medal to Korea," Ko said.

The victory over Yang (A) stunned those closely involved in short track. Little did anyone know on February 13 that things were about to become far more strange at the Salt Lake Ice Center.

Competition resumed on February 16 with two medal races, the first of which was the men's 1000 m final. Ohno led the race heading into the final turn of the nine-lap event, but four of the five finalists would go sprawling to the ice before crossing the finish line.

Ohno was leading when Jiajun Li (CHN) made contact with the American in the final lap. Li went down, taking Hyun-Soo Ahn (KOR) down with him. Ahn's fall forced Mathieu Turcotte (CAN) to the ice, and then Ohno tumbled as well.

The last man standing was Steven Bradbury (AUS), who went from last place to Olympic champion in the span of about three seconds.

"God smiles on you some days and this is my day," Bradbury said.

It was China's day as well. Only minutes after the 1000 m men's final was over, Yang (A) finally claimed her long-coveted gold medal, winning the ladies' 500 m final over Evgenia Radanova (BUL).

"It was a nightmare (after) the 1500 m loss. I felt too much pressure," Yang (A) said. "I cried several times. I could not sleep. ... I felt liberated later and that's how I adjusted myself to compete in this 500 meters."

On February 20, Korea won the ladies' 3000 m relay for the third consecutive Olympics, setting a world record of 4:12.793. Amy Peterson of the United States -- the only short track athlete to appear in five Olympic Games -- skated her final Olympic race that night, as her American team finished seventh overall in the ladies' relay.

Peterson was 13th overall in both the 500 m and 1500 m events here in Salt Lake City. Peterson did not qualify for the 1000 m competition.

"I've had a lot of ups and downs, lots of good and bad," said Peterson, who won three Olympic medals in her career. "To be honest, I would have liked to race a lot better in the individual races here. I wish that our relay had gone this well the first time around (in heats), but you know, you can't have everything."

Sometimes, though, you can have it all -- as Ohno would find out later in the evening on February 20.

The 1500 m final for men later that night turned out to be a race between two men, Dong-Sung Kim (KOR) and Ohno. Kim led comfortably for much of the race, before Ohno came up behind him with a quick sweeping move that catapulted the young American from last place to second, and that only by a matter of inches. Ohno never actually passed Kim, and the Korean crossed the line first, picking up a Korean flag and waving it in celebration while Ohno incrediously looked on, believing he had been interfered with by Kim.

Referees James Hewish (AUS) with Ohno, calling Kim for crosstracking -- an infraction that got the Korean disqualified from the final and gave Ohno his first Olympic gold medal.

"I just feel so good. I come here, perform my best and get a gold medal -- there's nothing better than that," Ohno said.

The Koreans felt there was nothing worse than that, actually, and lodged a protest with the International Skating Union to have Kim's disqualification rescinded. The ISU denied the appeal.

Three more medals were awarded on February 23, and Canada took two of them -- Gagnon won the 500 m competition and helped Canada's relay team to its second consecutive gold medal. Gagnon became the second man in Olympic short track history to win three gold medals, and is the most-decorated male short tracker in Olympic history with five medals overall.

The other gold on February 23 went to Yang (A), who prevailed in the ladies' 1000 m competition.

During the four nights of competition, 15 Olympic records and two world records were broken. Individual events saw Olympic records broken several times, in some cases.

Eun-Kyung Choi (KOR) set a world record in the ladies' 1500 m event, with a time of 2:21.069, breaking a mark that had stood for more than three years. Korean women were responsible for the other new world record at these Games, with a time of 4:12.793 in winning the 3000 m relay.

--Tim Reynolds