U.S. skater Casey Fitzrandolph of Madison, Wisc., is shown in action during the men's 500 meters speed skating competition at the Winter Olympics in Nagano on Monday, Feb. 10, 1998. ASSOCIATED PRESS

Olympic notebook

Web posted February 11, 1998

By Dennis Sodomka
Morris News Service

NAGANO - Casey FitzRandolph thought he had finally figured out the new clap skates, but his path to a 500-meter speed skating medal was stopped by a hometown hero and a Canadian juggernaught.

FitzRandolph was in third place after the first day of skating. But Japan's Hiroyasu Shimizu smashed the Olympic record with a race of 35.59 in winning Japan's first-ever gold medal in speed skating. He was followed by four Canadians and FitzRandolph.

Jeremy Wotherspoon came back from a poor first race to claim the silver medal and Kevin Overland took the bronze.

After receiving his medal Shimizu skated around the rink waving the national flag while tears streamed down his face. Many of the cheering people in the stands also were crying as Shimizu skated over to his mother and placed the medal around her neck.

"The dream that I have had has been realized a last, but even now I'm not sure if it's real or not,'' said an emotional Shimizu. "I want to tell my father in heaven that I won, but right now, I can't find the words.''

Japanese speedskater Hiroyasu Shimizu celebrates after winning the gold medal on the second day of the two day 500 meters men's speed skating competition at the Winter Olympics in Nagano on Monday, Feb. 10, 1998.ASSOCIATED PRESS

Erben Wennemars of the Netherlands appeared to have dislocated his shoulder when Norway's Grunde Njos tripped him and sent him crashing into the mat fence around the rink.

Curling

The U.S. women's curling team got on the winning track by beating Germany 8-5, ending a two-game losing streak.

"The monkey's off our backs,'' said team skipper Lisa Schoeneberg. "We got a win and we're on the track we want to be on.''

The game was close all the way and Germany had a chance to win on the last shot.

The U.S. men lost for the second time, 11-3 to gold medal-favorite Canada before beating Norway 7-6 on the last rock. The men are 1-2 but still in the race for a semi-final birth in the 8-team tournament.

Lisa Schoeneberg releases the rock during a game against Canada at the World Curling Championships Sunday afternoon, March 24, 1996 in Hamilton, Ontario. ASSOCIATED PRESS

Combined Slalom

Matt Grosjean missed a chance to move the United States closer to its first medal when he missed a gate in the second run of the combined slalom ski race.

He was third after the first run, but felt he needed to have the lead in the slalom to hold on in the downhill.

"I was really going hard and I just went too straight into the gate,'' said Grosjean. "I didn't have any weight on my ski so I couldn't turn quickly enough. I knew I had to attack in the second run. I wasn't holding anything back.''

Luge

A U.S. medal in women's single luge seemed unlikely as the top American, Erin Warren, was sixth, Bethany Calcaterra-McMahon was seventh and Cammy Myler was eighth after the first two runs.

Three Germans and two Austrians led the pack at the halfway point of the competition.