APOLO'S FINISH: 0 FOR OHNO HIS RUN ENDS WITH DQ, 4TH PLACE.

Byline: Paul Oberjuerge Staff Writer

SALT LAKE CITY - Four races, four falls, two medals.

That's short-track ... for Apolo Anton Ohno.

The American touted as most likely to leave the Salt Lake 2002 Winter Games with four medals, possibly all gold, went 0 for 2 in short-track speedskating Saturday night, ending his controversial and unpredictable Olympics with one gold medal and one silver.

``If anything crazy is going to happen, it's going to happen at the Games,'' Ohno said.

Ohno's craziness ended Saturday. He was disqualified in the 500-meter semifinals when it was ruled he impeded a Japanese skater who fell, and he and his U.S. teammates finished fourth in the 5,000-meter relay after Rusty Smith's medal-killing fall with 27 laps left.

Canada won the relay, followed by Italy and China.

``I think we were in perfect position,'' Ohno said. ``No doubt in my mind, if we wouldn't have went down and I was there in the end I could have done some magic. But that's just how it is.''

Smith, who got a bronze medal in the 500-meter race 40 minutes before the relay, took full responsibility for his fall in the 45-lap race.

``The result in the relay was very unfortunate,'' Smith said. ``I hit a block and it got caught between my boot and the ice. So I had no part of my blade on the ice, and that caused me to fall.

``It was completely my fault. I feel horrible. I have to put it past me. I apologized to all of them (his teammates). This can happen and has happened to us all before.

``It's just short-track,'' he said, repeating the mantra of the sport.

The bumper-car nature of short-track, with competitors often sprawled over the ice, left observers wondering how anyone could have thought Ohno could win four golds, or even four medals.

``I felt bad that people said he would win four gold medals,'' U.S. relay member Daniel Weinstein said. ``That's all but impossible in our sport.''

It seemed to be at these Olympics, certainly. Ohno was part of a four- person crash at the end of the 1,000-meter race, getting up and crawling across the finish line to take silver. In the 1,500 final, another racer fell and Ohno apparently was second, but winner Kim Dong-sung of South Korea was disqualified, giving the gold to Ohno.

That decision prompted more than 16,000 angry e-mails, including some of a threatening nature, and Ohno was accompanied at the track by a Utah Highway Patrolman.

A capacity Delta Center crowd in excess of 16,000, many of them wearing faux Ohno soul patches on their chins, seemed eager to see the 19-year-old Seattle native win two more medals. Michelle Kwan was in the crowd holding a sign that read, ``Oh Yes Ohno!''

Ohno said four medals ``is definitely possible, but the conditions have to be perfect, as far as how the races go and how you feel.''

Ohno's hopes of adding to his medal total came to an end in the second of the two 500-meter semifinals.

Ohno was third at the start of the last lap, trying to work his way past Satoru Terao of Japan, when he appeared to nudge Terao, who lost his balance and fell. Ohno also was knocked off stride, and was passed by Jonathan Guilmette, who had been fourth.

Ohno was disqualified, but his third-place finish made the issue moot.

``I thought I had great position inside,'' Ohno said. ``I thought I had the Japanese guy set up. I was just trying to hold my line and ran out of room.''

He did not argue the merits of the disqualification and conceded a poor start put him in desperate straits; he had been concerned, beforehand, that the six stitches in his left thigh (from the fall the previous Saturday) would be a problem for him in the short race.

In the relay, a Chinese skater fell with 36 laps left, and the Italians had an awkward handoff, leaving the U.S. just behind Canada for the lead. For a few laps.

``Right in second, that's perfect,'' Weinstein said. ``Only have one person to pass. We're disappointed because we're the best team in the world. We should have won gold.''

Weinstein said the relay members were not angry with Smith. ``You can't be mad. That's happened to all of us.''

Earlier Saturday, Ohno learned he would get to keep the gold medal he won in the 1,500-meter race after Kim was disqualified.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport dismissed the Korean protest of chief referee James Hewish's ruling that Kim was guilty of ``cross-tracking'' vs. Ohno.

Ohno said he doesn't see Salt Lake 2002 as a disappointment. ``This was definitely one of the best experiences of my life. I came here young, and performed so well. I can walk away happy.''

Smith, the 22-year-old Long Beach native, won his semifinal heat in the 500 meters, taking the lead halfway through and keeping it.

In the final, he got to the corner first and held the lead for four laps. Marc Gagnon of Canada passed him on the back straight of the final lap, and Guilmette edged him at the finish line for the silver.

Smith coughed continuously during a postrace session with the media, and said he has been battling ``a sinus cold'' since Monday. He was not disappointed with winning a bronze medal, his first in Olympic competition.

``On the lead, I felt comfortable and smooth,'' he said. ``Everything went real well. I was real happy with it. It was just a long time to be in the lead. ... I'm so excited and so happy. I was real proud of myself.''

Smith was disappointed by his finishes in the 1,000 and 1,500 earlier in the Games.

``I expect a lot more out of myself,'' he said. ``I feel that I'm more of a top-10 skater after these Olympics. I've learned a lot about myself at these Olympics after just learning about the Olympics when I skated at Nagano.''

He said his first Winter Games medal means a lot to him.

``All the work has paid off,'' he said. ``Well, it paid off a long time ago, but now I have something to show for it.''

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Photo:

Apolo Anton Ohno, right, nudges Japan's Satoru Terao of Japan, left, in the 500-meter semifinals Saturday, a move that got him disqualified.

Doug Mills/Associated Press