TAKING ONE MORE FOR THE TEAM
AFTER WATCHING TRACK MATES FALL TANTALIZINGLY SHORT OF GOALS, BRONZE-WINNER DUBOIS PICKS UP PACE IN DOGGED PURSUIT OF HIS
Short track speedskater Steven Dubois has been the antidote for the high-speed, highstakes cruelty that his sport has wrought on teammates and opponents alike at these Olympics, just as it always does.
Kim Boutin blows a tire while leading her 1,000-metre heat, Dubois saves the day with silver in the men’s 1,500 metres. The women’s relay team loses a late-race battle for bronze, Dubois steps up again, with bronze of his own in the 500 metres on Sunday.
Those medals feel good, he said, but they would have felt better if his teammates hadn’t met with bad luck or bad results.
“I’ve always liked winning individual medals, but over the past years what’s really been special about winning medals is that our team is kind of a big family,” Dubois said. “When someone performs good and you perform good at the same time, it’s a feeling that makes it better all the same. I don’t think of it as saving the day and that makes it better for me, I think it would have been amazing if the girls performed well, if Jordan (Pierre-gilles) didn’t clip blades at the beginning and went all the way to the final.”
Dubois and Pierre-gilles were in the same quarter-final. Dubois got through in fine shape but Pierregilles felt some contact on his blade early, lost speed and eventually his feet. In his semifinal, Dubois was knocked off stride by Korean Daeheon Hwang, and crossed the line out of contention for the A final but was advanced by the referee. It meant Dubois had a shot at a medal, but wouldn’t be in one of the prime start positions, closer to the left side of the ice.
The 24-year-old from Terrebonne, Que., is a sprint specialist and his start, which he calmly advises is either the best in the world or among them, usually gives him the edge in the 500 metres, which is over so quickly that there is little room for passing and none for error.
Forced to start in the fourth position in a five-man race, he didn’t have much of a chance to get to the lead. Instead, he found himself in the back, and knew that if he didn’t make a move quickly, he was done.
“I knew I had to pass at least one guy to get on the podium. I had nothing to lose because either you go home with a medal or you don’t. It doesn’t really matter if you’re fourth, fifth, like it makes no difference,” Dubois said.
“I went inside on the first straight. It was a mind game between me and the guy from Kazakhstan. I decided to go all the way. The guy decided to be patient and let me pass so he could maybe attack another time. It didn’t happen for him, so I had a gap. I knew I could go fast and catch up. If I go that fast, there’s just no way someone is going to pass me.”
Dubois finished comfortably in third, behind Hungary’s Shaoang Liu and Konstantin Ivliev of the Russian Olympic Committee.
Dubois sounds confident, but he arrived here with few expectations. He certainly wasn’t counting on a full set of Olympic medals, but if the men’s relay team comes through for gold, he’ll complete the natural hat trick.
“Definitely, I knew I was strong and I know I am strong, maybe a bit more now. In training I’ve always been performing super good. You know, I’m training with Pascal (Dion) who has been winning consistent medals all year, Charles (Hamelin) who has just been dominating all those years, too, and we’re always competing together so we know we’re strong. We know we can do good things,” he said.
“Like, I was confident, but knowing that I’ve never really performed (on) a big stage, it’s a bit hard to set expectations like, ‘Oh, I’m going to win three medals.’
“I know I want to. I know I can. But saying I’m going to is a bit harder for me. Maybe next Games will be different, but yeah, it was hard to have expectations.”
The short track team had expectations for a slew of medals and so far they have produced a trio, as Boutin scored bronze in the women’s 500 metres. There is potential for more from the men’s relay and the women’s 1,500 metres. For the latter race to produce a podium visit, Courtney Sarault will have to shake off the disappointment of losing third position as the relay laps dwindled. And Dubois will have to contribute to step up one more time with his relay teammates.