Vancouver Now - Short track has its share of secrets

The spirit of the Olympics might be about bringing the world's best athletes together for a peaceful, friendly and healthy competition. But at its core, the Games are still about winning gold medals for yourself and your country.

VANCOUVER -- Jordan Malone does not see what all the fuss is all about.

For the past three years, the 25-year-old has been manufacturing short track speedskating equipment out of his garage in Salt Lake City, Utah. At first, he outfitted just himself and his American teammates. But when skaters from other countries asked if they could also buy his one-of-a-kind products, which are superior to anything else in the market, he saw no problem with helping out the competition.

"I think the advantage of the U.S. is in our spirit and our heart," said Malone. "I think that's what makes us a great performing country. It's not in the technology. It's what we have underneath."

He then added, "of course, not everyone agrees with that."

Indeed, the spirit of the Olympics might be about bringing the world's best athletes together for a peaceful, friendly and healthy competition. But at its core, the Games are still about winning gold medals for yourself and your country.

Secrets are guarded. Rivalries exist. And if there is an edge to be gained, an athlete will likely take it.

In short track speedskating, a sport where photo finishes are often required to determine who wins the race, that means doing anything possible to shave even a hundredth of a second off a skater's lap time.

Perhaps that was why a Chinese official was caught filming the Korean women's team as they practised at the Pacific Coliseum two days ago. It seemed like an innocuous act. But when Korean head coach Choi Guang-Bok hurled bottles of water at the cameraman and shouted for him to stop, some jokingly referred to it as an Asian "skate gate."

"I think it's much ado about nothing. We smile and continue with our business," China's assistant coach Paul Marchese told Agence France-Presse on Sunday. "There's just a very, very strong rivalry between China and South Korea."

That China would try to spy on the Koreans is not surprising. The two countries took eight of the 12 women's short track speedskating medals at the 2006 Olympics in Turin. And they are expected to battle for the gold in the 500-metre final Wednesday.

Unlike the NFL, in which Bill Belichick's New England Patriots were fined in 2007 for videotaping the sideline signals of New York Jets coaches, cameras are allowed in short track speedskating practices. They are, however, frowned upon.

"I know when Apolo (Anton Ohno) skates, he does not want anybody seeing him skate or seeing what he is doing," Malone said of his U.S. teammate. "And coach Jae Su Chun has actually told us that if it were up to him, he would hang a black curtain around the rink."

To the naked eye, short track speedskating seems a lot like a track meet on ice. Skaters race around a tiny oval at 50 km/h. And whoever crosses the finish line first is declared the winner.

Unlike football, there are no sideline signals to steal that might tip off an opposing team on which way. But that does not mean there is nothing worth stealing.

"It's a pretty decent science," Malone said of his sport. "If you think there's a lot of science that goes into building a bicycle better or making a luge technically better, you'd be amazed at what goes into the curvature of the skate blade.

"I know that when I was starting, I really wanted to get a hold of Lee Jung-Su's skates, who was the Olympic champion in 2006. I never got to gauge a pair of his skates, but he was comfortable enough with me that I was able to look at him and get an idea of what looked round and what looked flat."

A flat skate blade helps a skater glide faster in a straightaway, but makes cornering difficult. A round blade does the opposite. Determining the curvature that fits a skater's stride, style and body type can take years of trial and error. Once they finally find it, they tend to guard it as though it were a PIN code.

"Apolo likes to keep his (curvature) pretty private," said Malone. "He doesn't want to let anybody try it out or skate on it. He thinks it's the best, so he wants to keep it for himself. I know that (long track speedskater) Shani Davis won't let anybody touch his skates. We're really good friends. But he still won't show me. He thinks they're the best numbers in the world."

Malone, who shares information like some fans trade Olympic pins, tends to laugh at that level of secrecy.

"I actually used to print my training program out and give it to people and say, 'here is what made me a world champion,' " he said. "It's not what's on paper, man. It's what you do."

Short track has its share of secrets

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