BEIJING On the podium again. But without the tears, without the trauma and without the controversy.
For Kim Bouton, a second consecutive bronze medal in 500-meter short track, PyeongChang to Beijing. Which makes the 27-year-old from Sherbrooke, Que., a four-time Canadian Olympic medalist, just the second female short-track speedskater to earn a quartet of ornaments at the Winter Games, following Tania Vincent.
Presumably, there will be no death threats this time around.
“I feel like I was in peace with the ice,” Boutin said on Monday night, following her third-place finish in a distance where she holds the world record and was ranked second on the planet this season, after four pre-Olympic stops on the World Cup circuit. “I didn’t feel any fear. For me to be here and not be scared was the best goal that I can reach so I’m pretty happy about it.”
To refresh the memory: Boutin, four years ago, had her bronze celebration spoiled by tremendous social media abuse, an absolute nightmare that flowed from the disqualification in that race of South Korean superstar Choi Min-jeong, who’d crossed the line in third . At the home Games, for a country just batty about short track, it was too much to bear. Though Choi was fingered for interference, local fans leveled their hatred at the Canadian, blaming her for the penalty.
Boutin had wept on the stand, as the boos cascaded, then absorbed online vitriol so merciless that she shut down her social media accounts and wasn’t sure whether she wanted to continue in the sport, her passion for short track only re-invigorated after a summer spent training and just smelling the flowers – tulips – in Holland.
It was a strange epilogue to a rather spectacular Olympic debut, wherein Boutin had gone on to capture silver in the 1000-meter and bronze in the 1500.
None of the fallout could be laid at the feet of Choi, of course. Though it did shine a light on the dark side of short track, or possibly any sport where enthusiasm tips into derangement. Just this past December, Shim Suk-hee, two-time Olympic champion in the 1000 and world champion, was handed a two-month suspension – it’s kept her out of Beijing – over expletive-laden texts she sent to her coach about teammates, in which she also suggested tripping Choi if they competed at the same event in PyeongChang.
There’s no shortage of drama in short tracks, on and off the ice. On Monday, after Italy’s Arianna Fontana collected her record 10th career Olympic medal, the 500-meter champion spoke grimly about her mistreatment within the Italian Federation (nobody from the delegation congratulated her, by the way, on the gold; they just walked straight past ) and how a male Italian skater had repeatedly, deliberately, knocked her over on the ice in training. Resentment that apparently can be traced back to Italian displeasure over Fontana’s American husband-coach, which drove Fontana to move her training base to Hungary in preparation for Beijing.
Such a soap opera.
In any event, from the perspective of Boutin, it’s understandable that she approached her Olympic return with trepidation, returning to the scene of the 500-meter crime, so to speak. That anxiety was dispelled in the quarterfinal, where she led start to finish.
“First of all, I’m delighted with how I raced this distance,” Boutin said at her post-race press conference. “To me, it’s a big comeback on the ice of the Olympics. So I’m extremely proud to be back here.
“I really entered this competition with the aim of being in symbiosis with the ice. I wanted to really go with the flow. I was also anticipating the feelings that would come. It was very emotional after the last Games so I wanted to take it step by step. From the outset, it was a bit of anticipation, then the baptism of the quarterfinals, then the semifinal. I lost my nerves.”
The semifinal was a dicey thing, a photo-finish where Boutin crossed the line 21-100ths of a second ahead of Elena Seregina, from the Russia Olympic Committee. But Boutin was still annoyed with herself for having been passed on the outside in that race by Fontana. “That was quite humiliating, being overtaken in the 500 on the outside.”
It was a thrilling race, though, more so than the final itself, where Fontana hauled ahead of Dutchwoman Schulting, with Boutin stuck in third place, unable to find daylight anywhere. That’s how it ended: Fontana, Schulting, Boutin, with much hugging all around.
“Today I was third and probably another day I would be first,” said Boutin.
Maybe in the next event she’s contesting, the 3000 relay, with semis on Wednesday.
There was, typically for short track, collisions and chaos out the wazoo. Boutin’s teammate, the teenager Florence Brunelle, was penalized for a late lane change causing contact and was gone in the quarters. She also appeared to kick a block into the path of compatriot Alyson Charles, who would finish third in the B final.
What had Charles learned from the experience? “Just to stay collected and calm, because especially in semifinals it’s only the first two spots that are into the A final. Often the third position and fourth are going to go all out because they’ve got nothing to lose, right? In those moments, penalties can happen, like we’ve seen a lot of falling for the men and the women. Staying calm and believing in myself, because I went to the semifinal so I know I can compete with the rest. I’ll take that into my the next event.”
The only other race involving Canadians Monday night at the Capitol Indoor Stadium was the men’s 1000-meter and it was a disaster. Jordan Pierre-Gilles was knocked out in the quarters and Pascal Dion, ranked No. 1 in the event after reaching the podium three times in four World Cup events this season, blew a tire, sliding out of the heat while trying to pass on the outside early in the fourth of nine laps, registering no time.
“I feel like it was my best shot but I’m sure I still can do good things in the 1500.”
