Team South Korea and team Canada perform during the mens' 5000m relay final of the short track competition at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. (Yuri Kadobnov/AFP/Getty Images) While the Europeans can take credit for the development of long-track speed skating, credit for short-track belongs squarely with North Americans, who around 1906 adapted the rules, moved it indoors, added more skaters and shrunk the track.
In 1907, the International Skating Union of America was formed in Montreal, and the first official short-track competition took place circa 1909. By the 1920s and 30s short-track meets were being held regularly all over Canada and the United States, often using pre-existing hockey rinks as their venue. The event was faster and more rough-and-tumble than long-track, with as many as five skaters at a time vying for position. It proved to be immensely popular with spectators.
The 1932 Olympics featured a form of pack-style speed skating. Organizers cleverly introduced the event to capitalize on the excitement and strategy of short-track racing, which was not yet a sanctioned Olympic event. This adapted competition was skated on the 400-metre long-track oval, with more skaters and a different set of rules. Not surprisingly, it was a big hit, but nonetheless, short-track speed skating remained an unsanctioned event for the next 35 years.
In 1967, the International Skating Union (ISU) finally sanctioned short-track speed skating, but it would still be another 14 years before competitions were sanctioned on a worldwide basis. Meanwhile, Great Britain, Belgium, France, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States continued to compete among themselves, and at last, in 1981, the first ISU-sanctioned short-track World Championship was held at Meudon-la-Foret, France.
Fast track to the Olympics
Things moved a little more quickly after that. In 1984, the event was officially titled Indoor Short Track Speed Skating, and in 1988, it was included as a demonstration event at the Calgary Winter Olympics. Only four years later, short track was introduced as a full medal event at the Winter Games in Albertville, France.
Domination in the sport has varied in the years since its inception. For the first 30 years or so, Canada was the country to beat: Russell Wheeler won the first-ever international indoor championship in 1915, and from 1926 to 1936, the senior men's division was dominated by Canadian skaters. New Brunswick's Charlie Gorman won the title three times between 1926 and 1928, and Winnipeg's Frank Stack and Sudbury's Alexander Hurd rotated the title between them until 1936.
From the 1940s to the 1960s, the focus shifted to Americans, with skaters such as Edgar Dame, Barbara DeSchepper and Michelle Conroy topping the ranks, and for the next couple of decades following that, titles were shared almost evenly between Americans and Canadians.
But through the 1980s, East Asian countries such as South Korea, China and Japan began to emerge on the scene as powerful contenders in short-track speed skating, and remain so to this day.
Canadian heroes
Marc Gagnon of Canada celebrates his gold in the men's 500m final during the Salt Lake City Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Al Bello/Getty Images)Canada has had its share of success since short-track's Olympic debut. Quebec's Annie Perreault won a 500m gold medal and a relay bronze at Nagano in 1998, and a 500m silver medal at the 1998 World Championships. In 1998, she was voted the Quebec Athlete of the Year and she ranks as one of Canada's most-decorated Winter Olympians.
Montreal's Marc Gagnon is another notable Canadian short-tracker: a three-time Olympian, he won gold with the men's relay team in 1998, bronze in the 1,000m at the 1994 Lillehammer Games, and one individual gold medal, and one bronze medal in Salt Lake City.
The men's relay team, of which Gagnon has been an integral part, has also had stellar success on both the national and international scene. In 1992 they won silver at the Albertville Games, and in 1995, they finished first at the world team championships, breaking the world record in the 5000m relay. In 1996, they topped the world championships once more, and in 1997 they finished second. In 1998, they captured the gold at both the Nagano Olympics and the world championships. At the 2002 Games, they continued to accumulate wins, collecting the gold medal in the 5000m short track relay.
Canada's Isabelle Charest, Marie-Eve Drolet, Amelie Goulet-Nadon and Alanna Kraus collected the bronze medal in the 3000m short-track relay.
The 2006 Torino Games saw Canada continue its success in the sport. The men's relay team captured silver in the 5000m, and team member François-Louis Tremblay collected a silver in the individual 5000m.
In addition, the Canadian women held up their end after Anouk Leblanc-Boucher took the bronze, while the relay team earned a silver medal.
South Korea Jin Sun-Yu was the star on the women's side, winning gold in the 500m and 1000m, and she also led her team to victory in the relay.
