Speed skating at the 2014 Winter Olympics – Women's 500 metres explained

Event:	Women's 500 metres
Games:	2014 Winter
Venue:	Adler Arena Skating Center
Date:	11 February 2014
Competitors:	35
Nations:	12
Win Value:	74.70
Gold:	Lee Sang-hwa
Goldnoc:	KOR
Silver:	Olga Fatkulina
Silvernoc:	RUS
Bronze:	Margot Boer
Bronzenoc:	NED
Prev:	2010
Next:	2018

The women's 500 metres speed skating competition of the 2014 Sochi Olympics was held at Adler Arena Skating Center on 11 February 2014.^[1]

The reigning 2014 World Sprint Speed Skating Champion Yu Jing did not start due to reoccurrence of an old waist injury.^[2]

Qualification

A total of thirty-six speed skaters could qualify for this distance, with a maximum of four skaters per country. The top 20 of the 2013–14 ISU Speed Skating World Cup – Women's 500 metres standings after the fourth World Cup race in Berlin secured a spot for their country. Then the additional 16 spots were awarded based on a time ranking of all times skated in the World Cup and the 2014 World Sprint Speed Skating Championships. A reserve list was also made.^[3]

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.

500 meters (1 race)

500 meters x 2 (2 races)At the 2013 World Single Distance Speed Skating Championships the track records were set by Lee Sang-hwa at 37.65 (single race) and 75.347 (combination).^[4]

The following records were set during this competition.

Date	Round	Time	Record	Note
11 February	Race 1 Pair 18 Race 2 Pair 17	74.70	OR, TR	^[5]
11 February	Race 1 Pair 16 Race 2 Pair 16	75.06	TR
11 February	Race 2 Pair 17	37.28	OR, TR
11 February	Race 1 Pair 18	37.42	TR
11 February	Race 1 Pair 16	37.57	TR
11 February	Race 1 Pair 8	37.58	TR

OR = Olympic record, TR = track record

Results

The races were held at 16:45^[6] and 18:34.^[7] Lee Sang-hwa became the third woman to win back-to-back golds, having previously won the distance at the 2010 Olympics, and the first Korean woman to do so.^[8] ^[9]

On 24 November 2017, silver medalist from Russia Olga Fatkulina was disqualified for a doping violation.^[10] On 1 February 2018, her results were restored as a result of the successful appeal.^[11]

Rank	Pair	Lane	Race 1	Rank	Notes	Pair	Lane	Race 2	Rank	Notes	Total	Time behind	Notes
	18	O	37.42	1		17	I	37.28	1	OR, TR	74.70		OR, TR
	16	O	37.57	2	TR	16	I	37.49	2		75.06	+0.36	TR
	17	O	37.77	5		13	I	37.71	3		75.48	+0.78
	8	O	37.58	3	TR	15	I	37.99	7		75.58	+0.88
	17	I	37.88	7		16	O	37.72	4		75.61	+0.91
	15	I	37.93	8		15	O	37.73	5		75.67	+0.97
	16	I	37.82	6		17	O	37.86	6		75.68	+0.98
	15	O	37.73	4		14	I	38.02	8		75.75	+1.05
	14	O	38.4	10		11	I	38.44	11		76.84	+2.14
10	11	O	38.23	9		12	I	38.62	13		76.86	+2.16
11	14	I	38.645	14		13	O	38.35	9		76.99	+2.29
12	10	O	38.53	11		10	I	38.61	12		77.15	+2.45
13	18	I	38.81	17		10	O	38.37	10		77.19	+2.49
14	13	O	38.644	13		9	I	38.62	13		77.26	+2.56
15	12	I	38.54	12		14	O	38.80	19		77.35	+2.65
16	6	I	38.67	15		12	O	38.73	17		77.40	+2.70
17	11	I	38.78	16		11	O	38.76	18		77.55	+2.85
18	5	O	38.82	18		8	I	38.85	22		77.68	+2.98
19	2	I	39.03	21		7	O	38.70	16		77.74	+3.04
20	10	I	38.93	20		8	O	38.82	21		77.75	+3.05
21	1	I	39.08	23		6	O	38.69	15		77.78	+3.08
22	12	O	39.04	22		7	I	38.80	19		77.85	+3.15
23	3	I	38.89	19		9	O	38.99	23		77.89	+3.19
24	7	O	39.19	24		6	I	39.04	24		78.23	+3.53
25	8	I	39.202	25		5	O	39.04	24		78.24	+3.54
26	2	O	39.207	26		5	I	39.11	26		78.31	+3.61
27	9	I	39.33	30		2	O	39.17	27		78.50	+3.80
28	5	I	39.272	27		4	O	39.25	28		78.52	+3.82
29	4	O	39.278	28		4	I	39.25	28		78.53	+3.83
30	4	I	39.30	29		3	O	39.34	31		78.64	+3.94
31	6	O	39.40	31		3	I	39.25	28		78.65	+3.95
32	7	I	39.59	32		1	O	39.63	33		79.22	+4.52
33	9	O	39.76	33		2	I	39.56	32		79.32	+4.62
34	3	O	39.82	34		1	I	39.69	34		79.51	+4.81
	13	I

OR = Olympic record, TR = track record, DQ = disqualified

Notes and References

Web site: Speed Skating Schedule and Results – Ladies' 500 m. SOOC. 12 February 2014. 25 July 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140725001359/http://www.sochi2014.com/en/speed-skating-ladies-500-m-race-2-of-2. dead.
News: China eye 2–3 golds in Sochi but lose another star. eastday.com. 6 February 2014. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20140225195933/http://english.eastday.com/e/140206/u1a7920059.html. 25 February 2014.
http://isuprod.blob.core.windows.net/media/128207/2014-owg-qualification-status-soqc-9-dec-2013.pdf Qualification of NOC event quota places for the Olympic Winter Games 2014 based on Special Olympic Qualification Classification (SOQC) as of December 9, 2013
Web site: Visitenkarte der Eisbahn: Adler Arene Sotschi. speedskatingnews. 5 February 2014.
Web site: Lee Sang-hwa sets Olympic records to win second straight 500m gold. CBS Sports.com. 14 February 2014. Brian Stubits. 11 February 2014.
http://live.isuresults.eu/2013-2014/sochi/r1505.htm 1st run Results
http://live.isuresults.eu/2013-2014/sochi/r1506.htm Final Results
News: Heather Richardson falls short of medal, Lee Sang-hwa wins 500m gold . James . O'Brien . 11 February 2014 . NBC Sports.
News: (Olympics) Speed skater Lee Sang-hwa poised for gold in women's 500 meters . Yonhap News Agency . GlobalPost . 11 February 2014.
Web site: IOC sanctions four Russian athletes as part of Oswald Commission findings - Olympic News.
Web site: The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) delivers its decisions in the matter of 39 Russian athletes v/the IOC: 28 appeals upheld, 11 partially upheld. Court of Arbitration for Sport. 1 February 2018.