(Olympics) He does it again: speed skater Cha Min-kyu delivers 2nd straight silver out of blue

유지호 / 2022-02-12 19:50:53

(Olympics) speed skating-medalist

▲ Cha Min-kyu of South Korea competes in the men's 500m speed skating race at the Beijing Winter Olympics at the National Speed Skating Oval in Beijing on Feb. 12, 2022. (Yonhap)

▲ Cha Min-kyu of South Korea celebrates his silver medal in the men's 500m speed skating race at the Beijing Winter Olympics at the National Speed Skating Oval in Beijing on Feb. 12, 2022. (Yonhap)

▲ Cha Min-kyu of South Korea competes in the men's 500m speed skating race at the Beijing Winter Olympics at the National Speed Skating Oval in Beijing on Feb. 12, 2022. (Yonhap)

(Olympics) speed skating-medalist

(Olympics) He does it again: speed skater Cha Min-kyu delivers 2nd straight silver out of blue

By Yoo Jee-ho

BEIJING, Feb. 12 (Yonhap) -- It must be abundantly clear by now: South Korean speed skater Cha Min-kyu saves his best for the biggest of stages.

Cha captured his second straight Olympic silver medal in the men's 500m at Beijing 2022 on Saturday, clocking 34.39 seconds to finish 0.07 back of the champion, Gao Tingyu of China, at the National Speed Skating Oval.

The stunning way in which Cha came out of the blue to snatch the medal was eerily similar to how he won his silver four years ago.

In his Olympic debut at PyeongChang 2018, Cha finished only 0.01 second behind the gold medalist, Haavard Holmefjord Lorentzen of Norway. That silver was so unexpected that it was often forgotten just how close Cha came to winning gold.

Cha once said he was at first pleased with himself for earning that silver. But as time passed, it began to dawn on him that he could easily have won gold. His satisfaction gradually turned into disappointment.

On Saturday at Beijing 2022, Cha flipped the script with an equally-shocking silver medal.

As had been the case in 2018, Cha wasn't regarded as a medal threat in the sprint event this year. He was only 11th in the International Skating Union (ISU) World Cup season, having failed to pick up any medal in the weeks leading up to Beijing.

There must be something about seeing the Olympic Rings, though. Cha ended up posting the third-fastest time in the 100m split at 9.64 seconds, and no one in the field of 30 skaters topped Cha's final 400m time of 24.75 seconds.

Cha said there's no secret recipe to his success in the Olympics other than keeping his head down and working.

"I just work as hard as I can, and it just happens that I've been able to win medals at the Olympics," Cha said sheepishly. "There's really nothing else to it. And even though I didn't win gold, I think I still proved how much I've worked over the years."

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