Rusty Smith (speed skater): Difference between revisions

Rusty Smith
Personal information
Born	August 27, 1979 (age 45); Sunset Beach, California, U.S.
Sport
Sport	Short track speed skating
Medal record
Men's short track speed skating
Representing the United States
Olympic Games
World Championships
World Junior Championships
Goodwill Games

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Latest revision as of 23:49, 6 December 2024

Rusty Smith (born August 27, 1979) is a short track speed skater from the United States who won bronze in the 500m at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City and another bronze in the 5000m relay at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin.

Olympic qualification race controversy

In December 2001, Shani Davis traveled to Utah to race for a spot on the 2002 Winter Olympics short track team. Teammates Smith and Apolo Ohno already had slots on the six-man team due to points earned from earlier races, and Ron Biondo was a lock for the third spot. In order for Davis to qualify, he would have to actually win the final race. As both Ohno and Smith were also participating, Davis would have to beat them both. Since Ohno had been dominant in the meet to this point, winning every race he entered with ease, a win by Davis seemed to be a long shot. However, the 1,000m race would end with Ohno coming in third, Smith second and Davis at the top of the podium.

However, the victory was short-lived, as rumors began to swirl that Ohno and Smith, both good friends of Davis', intentionally threw the race so that Davis would win.^[1] After returning to Colorado Springs, O'Hare would file a formal complaint. For three days, Ohno, Smith and Davis stood before an arbitration panel as three of their fellow skaters testified that they heard Ohno telling Smith that he was going to let Davis win.^[2]

Ohno would later confess that he subconsciously held back for fear of suddenly crashing into Davis or Smith, a common occurrence in the sport, pointing out that he did not need to win the race because he already had a spot on the team. Question persisted that if Ohno had really held back, why did he keep passing Ron Biondo? Some speculated that Ohno was holding off Biondo from challenging Smith, as Smith also needed to finish ahead of Biondo in order to secure a spot in the 1000m for Salt Lake. Even this scenario would have been a violation of the rules of team skating. Both claims went unproven in the arbitration case, and all three were absolved of guilt.

On February 13, 2002 Sports Illustrated writer Brian Cazeneuve published an article stating that, after reviewing the race, "To this day, there is no concrete proof that any skaters violated the spirit of competition."^[3] Cazeneuve would, however, also publish the comments of Outside Life Network commentator Todd Harris and 1998 Winter Olympian speed skater Eric Flaim, which were made during the broadcast of the race; both men agreed that Ohno and Smith had not skated at 100%.

Notes

^ Price, S.L. (2002). "Launch of Apolo " SI.com (accessed May 24, 2007)
^ ESPN.com – Page2 – Outside the Lines: Was the Fix In?
^ Cazeneuve, Brian (2002). "More on the great short-track speed skating controversy" SportsIllustrated.CNN.com (accessed May 30, 2007)

External links

Rusty's U.S. Olympic Team bio Archived 2006-12-31 at the Wayback Machine
Rusty Smith at Olympics.com
Rusty Smith at Olympics at Sports-Reference.com (archived)

[SI-1] Price, S.L. (2002). "Launch of Apolo " SI.com (accessed May 24, 2007)

[2] ESPN.com – Page2 – Outside the Lines: Was the Fix In?

[3] Cazeneuve, Brian (2002). "More on the great short-track speed skating controversy" SportsIllustrated.CNN.com (accessed May 30, 2007)

[1]

[2]

[3]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+{{short description|Short track speed skater}}
 {{for|the American football player|Rusty Smith (American football)}}
-{{Infobox sportsperson
+{{Infobox speed skater
+| sport            = [[Short track speed skating]]
 | name             = Rusty Smith
 | image            =
 | caption          =
-| birth_date       = {{birth-date and age|August 27, 1979}}
-| birth_place      =
 | headercolor      = lightsteelblue
+| birth_date       = {{birth-date and age|August 27, 1979}}
+| birth_place      = [[Sunset Beach, California]], U.S.
 | show-medals      = yes
 | medaltemplates   =
-{{MedalSport | Men’s [[Short track speed skating at the Winter Olympics|short track speed skating]] }}
+{{MedalSport | Men's [[short track speed skating]] }}
 {{MedalCountry | the {{USA}} }}
+{{MedalCompetition | [[Short track speed skating at the Winter Olympics|Olympic Games]] }}
-{{MedalOlympics}}
 {{MedalBronze | [[2002 Winter Olympics|2002 Salt Lake City]] | [[Short track speed skating at the 2002 Winter Olympics|500m]] }}
 {{MedalBronze | [[2006 Winter Olympics|2006 Turin]] | [[Short track speed skating at the 2006 Winter Olympics#Men's 5000 m relay|5000m relay]] }}
 {{MedalCompetition | [[World Short Track Speed Skating Championships|World Championships]] }}
 {{MedalGold | [[2001 World Short Track Speed Skating Championships|2001 Jeonju]] | 5000 m relay }}
-{{MedalBronze | [[2006 World Short Track Speed Skating Championships|2006 Minneapolis]] | 5000 m relay }}
 {{MedalBronze | [[2002 World Short Track Speed Skating Championships|2002 Montréal]] | 1500 m }}
+{{MedalBronze | [[2006 World Short Track Speed Skating Championships|2006 Minneapolis]] | 5000 m relay }}
 {{MedalCompetition | [[World Junior Short Track Speed Skating Championships|World Junior Championships]] }}
 {{MedalSilver | [[World Junior Short Track Speed Skating Championships|1997 Marquette]] | Overall }}
+{{MedalSilver | [[World Junior Short Track Speed Skating Championships|1997 Marquette]] | 1500 m }}
+{{MedalBronze | [[World Junior Short Track Speed Skating Championships|1997 Marquette]] | 1000 m }}
+{{MedalBronze | [[World Junior Short Track Speed Skating Championships|1997 Marquette]] | 1500 m S.F }}
+{{MedalCompetition | [[Goodwill Games]] }}
+{{MedalBronze | 2000|500 m }}
 }}
@@ Line 28: / Line 35: @@
 In December 2001, [[Shani Davis]] traveled to Utah to race for a spot on the [[2002 Winter Olympics]] short track team. Teammates Smith and [[Apolo Ohno]] already had slots on the six-man team due to points earned from earlier races, and [[Ron Biondo]] was a lock for the third spot. In order for Davis to qualify, he would have to actually ''win'' the final race.  As both Ohno and Smith were also participating, Davis would have to beat them both.  Since Ohno had been dominant in the meet to this point, winning every race he entered with ease, a win by Davis seemed to be a long shot.  However, the 1,000m race would end with Ohno coming in third, Smith second and Davis at the top of the podium.
-However, the victory was short-lived, as rumors began to swirl that Ohno and Smith, both good friends of Davis', intentionally threw the race so that Davis would win.<ref name=SI>Price, S.L. (2002). [http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/si_online/news/2002/02/13/launch_of_apolo/ "Launch of Apolo   "] SI.com (accessed May 24, 2007)</ref> After returning to [[Colorado Springs, Colorado|Colorado Springs]], O'Hare would file a formal complaint. For three days, Ohno, Smith and Davis stood before an arbitration panel as three of their fellow skaters testified that they heard Ohno telling Smith that he was going to let Davis win.<ref>[http://espn.go.com/page2/tvlistings/show98transcript.html ESPN.com – Page2 – Outside the Lines: <br />Was the Fix In?<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
+However, the victory was short-lived, as rumors began to swirl that Ohno and Smith, both good friends of Davis', intentionally threw the race so that Davis would win.<ref name=SI>Price, S.L. (2002). [https://web.archive.org/web/20020219004632/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/si_online/news/2002/02/13/launch_of_apolo/ "Launch of Apolo   "] SI.com (accessed May 24, 2007)</ref> After returning to [[Colorado Springs, Colorado|Colorado Springs]], O'Hare would file a formal complaint. For three days, Ohno, Smith and Davis stood before an arbitration panel as three of their fellow skaters testified that they heard Ohno telling Smith that he was going to let Davis win.<ref>[https://www.espn.com/page2/tvlistings/show98transcript.html ESPN.com – Page2 – Outside the Lines: Was the Fix In?<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
 Ohno would later confess that he subconsciously held back for fear of suddenly crashing into Davis or Smith, a common occurrence in the sport, pointing out that he did not need to win the race because he already had a spot on the team. Question persisted that if Ohno had really held back, why did he keep passing Ron Biondo?  Some speculated that Ohno was holding off Biondo from challenging Smith, as Smith ''also'' needed to finish ahead of Biondo in order to secure a spot in the 1000m for Salt Lake.  Even this scenario would have been a violation of the rules of team skating.  Both claims went unproven in the arbitration case, and all three were absolved of guilt.
-On February 13, 2002 ''[[Sports Illustrated]]'' writer Brian Cazeneuve published an article stating that, after reviewing the race, "To this day, there is no concrete proof that any skaters violated the spirit of competition."<ref>Cazeneuve, Brian (2002). [http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/olympics/2002/news/2002/02/13/cazeneuve_ohno/ "More on the great short-track speed skating controversy"] SportsIllustrated.CNN.com (accessed May 30, 2007)</ref>  Cazeneuve would, however, also publish the comments of Outside Life Network commentator Todd Harris and 1998 Winter Olympian speed skater [[Eric Flaim]], which were made during the broadcast of the race; both men agreed that Ohno and Smith had not skated at 100%.
+On February 13, 2002 ''[[Sports Illustrated]]'' writer Brian Cazeneuve published an article stating that, after reviewing the race, "To this day, there is no concrete proof that any skaters violated the spirit of competition."<ref>Cazeneuve, Brian (2002). [https://web.archive.org/web/20020215235003/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/olympics/2002/news/2002/02/13/cazeneuve_ohno/ "More on the great short-track speed skating controversy"] SportsIllustrated.CNN.com (accessed May 30, 2007)</ref>  Cazeneuve would, however, also publish the comments of Outside Life Network commentator Todd Harris and 1998 Winter Olympian speed skater [[Eric Flaim]], which were made during the broadcast of the race; both men agreed that Ohno and Smith had not skated at 100%.
 ==Notes==
@@ Line 41: / Line 48: @@
 ==External links==
-* [http://www.usolympicteam.com/26_747.htm Rusty's U.S. Olympic Team bio]
+* [http://www.usolympicteam.com/26_747.htm Rusty's U.S. Olympic Team bio] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061231104951/http://www.usolympicteam.com/26_747.htm |date=2006-12-31 }}
+* {{Olympics.com profile|rusty-smith}}
+* {{Sports-Reference|sm/rusty-smith-1}}
 {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Rusty}}
 [[Category:1979 births]]
 [[Category:Living people]]
-[[Category:American short track speed skaters]]
+[[Category:American male short-track speed skaters]]
-[[Category:Short track speed skaters at the 2002 Winter Olympics]]
+[[Category:Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in short-track speed skating]]
-[[Category:Short track speed skaters at the 2006 Winter Olympics]]
+[[Category:Short-track speed skaters at the 1998 Winter Olympics]]
-[[Category:Olympic short track speed skaters of the United States]]
+[[Category:Short-track speed skaters at the 2002 Winter Olympics]]
-[[Category:Olympic bronze medalists for the United States]]
+[[Category:Short-track speed skaters at the 2006 Winter Olympics]]
-[[Category:Olympic medalists in short track speed skating]]
-[[Category:Medalists at the 2006 Winter Olympics]]
 [[Category:Medalists at the 2002 Winter Olympics]]
+[[Category:Medalists at the 2006 Winter Olympics]]
+[[Category:World Short Track Speed Skating Championships medalists]]
+[[Category:21st-century American sportsmen]]