|
|
| Ohno Zone
|
|
|
STEPHEN GOUGH, former U.S. National Short Track Coach Ohno Zone Interview, April 2003 | PART 2: 2003 COMPETITIONS, cont'd
Coaching Apolo in Bay City Image courtesy Jennifer Berlin OZ: Is it true that only the two corner judges can make a call of team skating? In Poland one corner judge was South Korean; the other was Chinese. It just so happens that the South Korean and Chinese teams are particularly known to engage in team skating. Is it possible the nationalities of the corner judges prevented them from carrying out their duties impartially? SG: [I'm not sure that's true.] There is a referee and four assistants, two on the ice and two off the ice. The chief referee has the final say on all the calls. When we were in Bulgaria at the World Team Championships there were several instances where I knew the corner referees had made disqualifications and the chief overruled them and said no call. I don't think there was one cross-tracking DQ the whole competition [at Worlds]. That to me was more significant than any threat of team skating. Ask Jeffrey Scholten about his 500 quarter. In general, things are going in the right direction with the refs. They had video replay at the Worlds, and they used it, but one time they still missed a call. When you get to the top you see that these countries have different traditions and understandings of how things work. The way the Koreans race internationally is how they race coming up, with that hidden team element. The referees are just like the skaters to a certain extent -- they're a product of their own domestic system. You come up knowing the sport as it relates to your own culture. That's why you still see differences in referees from different countries. It comes, to my mind, from their own sport experience in their own country. OZ: Do you feel that the team skating cost Apolo some medals and points at Worlds? SG: No. It's been the same over the years, two different skaters that are in the hunt. I don't think so. I look at the way the races played out. The only instances [where team skating occurred] were probably the 1500 and the 3000, where he was in the final with the three Korean skaters. To me that was not the determining factor in why it didn't work out. In the 1500, he was racing from the back too much. But even then, he was in third place but he had a little equipment problem with his skates. When he [accelerated] he was slipping a little bit. Having watched the race on our own videotapes, he wasn't following the guy in second in the right way. There were two little problems there: racing from the back, where you put yourself in a position to have to pass people at the end, which is an age-old problem for Apolo that needs to be fixed. The equipment thing was a minor problem, but was enough to make the difference between 1st and 3rd, or [in Apolo's case] 3rd and 4th. The 3000, he skated that race fine, but other things were exposed that need to be worked on. When you've got one guy that never slips at the corners, which is Ahn, you can't slip either. In that case, we would have looked at [changing equipment and improving technique]. OZ: So the team skating is something that can be dealt with, assuming the other problems are addressed? SG: Totally. I totally think so. He has to work on it. OZ: How is the number of individual competitors each country is allowed at Worlds decided? SG: You have to have two skaters in the top 16 [at the previous year's Worlds], and one of those skaters had to score final points. We usually say the rule is 'top 8, top 16.' When Apolo got disqualified [in the 1500] it killed his chances to move up or do well in that race, but it also gave the Polish skater enough points to pass Rusty and go into 16th. So it was real double-whammy on that one. It means that next year the U.S. will only have two men and two women competing [at Worlds]. OZ: What is the purpose of giving this numerical advantage, if it results in illegal practices? Is there any discussion of changing the rules for Worlds to permit all countries to enter the same number of individual skaters? SG: There has been an evolution to this. It used to be four skaters per country. Then they cut it to three, but you could have 1, 2 or 3 depending on [how many of their skaters finish in the top 16]... so they changed it over the years. Obviously the top countries want to protect their interests which means getting as many as possible to race. OZ: I heard that the padding at the SLC World Cup in February was not in comformity with ISU safety standards. Can you confirm if this was the case? If so, in what way did they not comform? SG: I've heard that as well. I've been told that it wasn't, I've been told that 'yes it is.' I will tell you this: the pads are too hard there and the skaters aren't comfortable. Hypothetically speaking (since I don't have to face this question anymore), I would not have taken the team to Salt Lake for training camp in season when they'd be skating fast. Let's put it that way. [The risk of] one fall is not worth it. OZ: Are the people responsible for the safety padding aware of that problem? SG: I don't know. The people that tell me everything is okay are the people that are in charge. So I wouldn't expect anything to change. A set of pads is a lot of money. PART 3: SHORT TRACK RULES & IMPROVING THE SPORT OZ: Do you know why no video replay was employed at the SLC World Cup? SG: I'm not really sure why it was used when it was used. It was used in Bormio and it was used at the World Championships. I'm not sure if it was used in Canada. There is a technical side of it to use the system properly, and I think that's part of it. At the Worlds there was a special monitor by the screen and they were able to look at it right away. [It seems they had video replay only from one angle] at Worlds, because when they reviewed the 1000 semi with Jonathan Guilmette and Seung-Jae Lee, the ref didn't get the call right, in the opinions of most people. OZ: Do you think this rule has had a positive impact in its first season? SG: I'd like to see it used more before I can tell. The one time we used it in Bormio, it worked in our favor. It wasn't like we pulled a fast one on anybody. Shani Davis was in 2nd place going into the last corner and he was taken down. They were taking three to qualify [for the next round], and he doesn't get advanced. [The referee] said he wasn't in qualifying position, and I was like, 'What are you talking about?' So they [review the video and decide to advance Shani]. That alone makes it worth it. It made the call right and made the sport more fair, just. Still, too many of the referees are reluctant... they're not going to admit they made the wrong call or didn't get it right. They have to maintain that air of infallibility. Stephen, Apolo and Tony in Bay City 
Image courtesy Jennifer BerlinOZ: What other rules or practices would you like to see changed or created in short track? SG: One of the countries had proposed last year that on any false start or when they call a start back because of a fall, that they repeat the start commands. In long track, if there is a false start, they go back through the whole 'go to the start, ready, go.' In short track, after a crash they do it, but after a false start everyone is supposed to get down in the ready position right away. I know there are people that abuse it. People try to lean, people try to get off the line a little bit faster. In the 500 it's sometimes the deciding factor. I'd rather see them go through the whole call again. One alternative: you can go the way of track and swimming where if one guys gets a false start, the whole group gets a false start. It's something to think about. There's also got to be a [better way to determine] the start position. You look at swimming and track, the top [athletes] that go through the rounds get the preferred lane positions. In short track, you could set a world record in every round -- heat, quarter, semi -- but if there is an advancement in every race, all of a sudden you're [starting from position] five on the line in the final. It's completely random, by computer. The skaters themselves would even prefer to pick the old-fashioned way. When you're younger, going to club meets, you pick ping-pong balls out of a bag or popsicle sticks with numbers on them. I think most of the skaters would still prefer [to do it that way] than just have the sheets posted and, 'Oh look, there's me. Number 4 again, great.' At least it would put it in their hands and they would know there's not some secret, hidden computer program trying to rig the whole thing. Seriously -- that's not just us complaining. I saw Big John, the former Korean coach, all over the FinishLynx guys at one of the World Cups because [Kim] Dong-sung had [drawn number] 4 on the line every race in his 500. So if the skaters put their hand in a bag and drew out number 6, [at least] they could feel it's their own fault. It's not hidden. I dont know how you would fix [the problem of the starts]. Some people have talked about maybe banking the start line, instead of having it straight across, as you move toward the boards it maybe comes out 10 degrees or something, just to narrow the distance. Or let the fastest time qualifiers go to the inside. But not all skaters like to be number 1 on the line, some like to be number 2. Me, I was all about number 1. You could give me number 1 any day, I'll take it! The whole idea of team skating -- I'd love to get rid of some of the obvious [examples] of it, but I don't know how you could start to interpret that rule [consistently]. There was a 500 in the World Juniors in Hungary where Maria Garcia was second off the line in the 500 and the girl in front was skating with two arms on her back because her coach told her to go slow. Instead of a 9.6 or 9.5 or 9.7 [lap], they were skating like 10.1. The reason was that the teammate was in 4th place, so the race is slow, the teammate goes blazing around the outside, and then they finish at 9.5, 9.6. And the two teammates go through to the final. From our end, skaters have to be able to deal with that situation and ideally they wouldn't be able to [get away with that]. To me, that was an obvious case of team skating. I was even telling people at World Juniors exactly who was going to win the races on Sunday, on the men's side. I looked at the point standing, and said who would win. The next day it worked exactly the way I said it was going to happen. In this case it was the Korean men's team and they wanted to get top three overall. Their one guy was pretty safe. He could just go out and get third or fourth or second or whatever. All he needed was one or two distances to get enough points to guarantee his title. They rigged it so the second and third guys could get first and second place points so they would wind up 1,2,3 overall. And it's exactly what happened. The guys they had at Junior Worlds were straight out of a video game, they were that good. OZ: How do you think the way ST programs are run in other countries (esp. CAN, KOR, CHN) gives their athletes a head start or advantages over US athletes (setting aside the greater depth these countries have)? SG: I think the depth [these countries enjoy] represents what the [U.S.] disadvantage is. [In Canada], they're much more organized in a broader sense at the club level, at the provincial level. So … the clubs in the provinces have a purpose, they have stated intentions of what their objectives are, and… they're organized enough that they're [self-]sufficient. They don't need direct support from the national federation. By running the clubs as programs… they are much more organized, much more able to go about meeting those [objectives]. Where I'm from in Canada, my club even 20 years ago had a system… from when you first enter the club to when you're one of the top skaters. It becomes understood how you flow through that system... from the club to the provincial level and onwards and upwards. I guess those countries right now have a better feel or better knowledge, or at least are doing a better job of knowing what are the needs of a club-level or recreational skater and how they can be met. I think in the U.S. [clubs] are still sorting that out…. I think one of the problems in the U.S. is the uniqueness of each area. You can't just say 'It's going to be this way,' because each club has a unique setup, as far as how much they pay for ice, etc. The end result of all that is better skaters, greater depth [in countries like CAN]. Skaters just flow through the system, and champions are going to be your champions no matter what. Your chances of having one come through your system are greater when you can get more and more people to stay in the sport. Not only the chance of finding [a champion], but the caliber of athlete you have [in general]. Making the Canadian or Korean or Chinese team requires you to be at a certain level. There is no way you would make it if you weren't of that level in terms of skating ability. When you don't have that depth, then skaters maybe reach places that they're not ready to be, like with World Championships teams and that sort of thing. There is a positive side to that: when you don't necessarily have the depth, it's easier for you to give some skaters experience that they may not [otherwise] get. When I was skating in Canada as the number 4 or 5 guy, you're watching the number 1, number 2 or number 3 guys in other countries, saying, 'Geez, I wish I could be out there, because I'd be beating them.' One of the advantages a small country has is you can certainly focus your efforts on a few people. They get the extra racing experience. If you're Canadian, and you can't make the team year in and year out, then your chances to get international racing experience are kind of spotty. Whereas if you're not, a skater can have the chance to get out there and learn at the top. I think that's probably a big part of it right there. >> Continue to page 4 >> Ohno Zone Home // Interview: page 1 | page 2 | page 3 | page 4 | page 5 |
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
||||||||||||