S. KOREA AT THE OLYMPICS: Speed Skating: Long podium path historic for Korea

Vancouver (AFP) - Lee Seung-Hoon was too slow to qualify for South Korea's formidable Winter Olympic short-track speedskating team, but he learned that the long way was his quickest path to a historic Vancouver podium. Lee was a surprise silver medallist Saturday in the men's 5,000-meter long-track speedskating event, finishing second in 6:16.95 for the first Olympic long-track medal won by an Asian man at a distance beyond 1,000 meters. "This is a dream, big surprise," Lee said. "It's so much better than I ever expected. I'm very happy." Lee's silver was the first medal by an Asian at Vancouver and only the third Winter Olympic medal by South Korea outside their 29 short-track speedskating medals entering these Games. Making the transition last July when he was unable to achieve the qualifying standard for the Korean short-track Olympic squad, Lee saw his Olympic dream nearly die. That made his podium moment one for the ages. "Last year I was going through a lot of difficulties. I had a hard time," he said. "But I think it was all because something good was about to happen." Lee credited his work in the short-track discipline with bringing him a medal over 12.5 laps around the 400-meter oval. "Through short-track I practiced a lot of endurance and stamina," Lee said. "Korea is known to be good in short-track, but actually we are also good in long distances and I knew that I could do well in speedskating." While long-track is simply man against the clock, short-track is a jostling position battle that is about strategy, positioning and racing rivals. But the work in the smaller-scale event developed leg power that Lee said made a huge difference in his long-track abilities. "The short-track is hard cornering so it was harder on my legs," Lee said. "The short-track experience and strength it gave me was an advantage. Because of my short-track experience, I was able to achieve great results." Three weeks shy of his 22nd birthday, the Seoul-born speedster put a scare into eventual winner Sven Kramer, the Dutch reigning world champion and world record-holder. "I saw the Korean go and thought, 'Oh my God. What if he beats my time?'" Kramer said. Kramer had set the mark to beat at 6mins, 14.60secs but in the next heat, Lee threatened to stun the favorite before falling short by 2.35 seconds.

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