TURIN, Italy (AFP) - South Korea's Ahn Hyun-Soo won the most satisfying victory of his short-track speedskating career, beating US rival Apolo Anton Ohno for Olympic gold in a race that broke his heart in 2002.
Ahn won his second gold medal of the Winter Olympics, capturing the men's 1,000m final in 1 minute, 26.739 seconds. Ahn edged compatriot Lee Ho-Suk by .025 of a second, the length of Ahn's skate blade, with Ohno third in 1:26.927.
"I had a lot of experience competing against Ohno from years back and this was very helpful," Ahn said.
Ahn led the 1,000m final on the final lap when he and Ohno were toppled in a four-man tangle that allowed Australian Steven Bradbury to win from last place. Ohno took silver. Ahn staggered home fourth.
Capturing gold in the event this time was sweet enough, but six days after being disappointed not to skate against Ohno in the Turin Olympics 1,500m final, Ahn was ahead of Ohno in the final, semi-final and quarter-final heats.
"In Salt Lake, we got bumped and fell into each other and I missed my gold medal there," Ahn said.
"This time, from the very first heat I raced against him and I won every time. That really is satisfying. That really gives me a special feeling."
Ohno, who stumbled in a 1,500m semi-final, was just happy to take bronze.
"I'm extremely happy I was able to bounce back after the 1,500. That was pretty devastating to me," Ohno said. "To make it onto the podium tonight, it was a success."
World Cup champion Lee passed Ohno on the inside on the second turn of the last lap to match their 1,500m finish and give the Koreans their second 1-2 showing of the night.
Reigning world champion Jin Sun-Yu won the women's 1,500m gold in 2:23.494 in the night's other final with compatriot Choi Eun-Kyung claiming the silver for the second Olympics in a row.
"It was harder than I expected," Jin said. "There were some risky moments."
Byun Chun-Sa, third in the World Cup season, would have completed a Korean podium sweep but was disqualified by the judges, allowing China's Wang Meng to take her second medal after capturing 500m gold Wednesday.
The night belonged to Ahn, who is halfway to an unprecedented sweep of four short-track gold medals at a single Olympics.
He will try to complete the sweep next Saturday by winning the 500m and leading a Korean 5,000m triumph.
Ohno became what one newspaper called "The Most Hated Athlete in Korea" after taking the 2002 1,500m gold on home ice when South Korean Kim Dong-Sung, who crossed the finish line first, was disqualified for blocking.
Kim has congratulated Ahn for finally bringing the 1,500m crown to Korea.
"He was very happy for me because Korea won the gold medal after the unfortunate incident in Salt Lake," Ahn said. "He was very happy for me and Korea."
Koreans had protested the outcome in vain and Ohno, an American of Japanese heritage, received death threats from Koreans after the outcome, prompting him to skip a 2003 World Cup event in Seoul.
Ahn offered a more forgiving view.
"I understand these kinds of things can certainly happen in the context of the Games," Ahn said. "What the Korean people were upset about is Kim lost his medal. I was certainly sad with them.
"But I believe these things are understandable in these types of competitions."
Two Chinese stars were eliminated in semi-finals.
Yang Yang, a double gold medalist in 2002, was ousted in the women's 1,500m semi-finals while Li Jiajun, the men's 1,000m world record-holder, failed in his bid to become the solo all-time medal leader in short track with six.