U.S. speedskaters claim 3 medals in 2 events

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U.S. speedskaters Joey Cheek, left, and Shani Davis trade smiles during the flower ceremony after the men's 1,000 meter speedskating race in Turin.

Davis, Cheek take gold, silver in 1,000; Ohno settles for bronze in 1,500

Saturday was a rough day for many of the pre-Olympic favorites in Turin, but that opened the door for many new names and new faces to enter the Games' memory book.

Here's a look at some of the names that will be known around the world until the flame is lit at the 2010 Games in Vancouver, British Columbia:

Speedskating

Shani Davis became the first black to win an individual gold medal in Winter Olympic history, capturing the men’s 1,000-meter speedskating race. Joey Cheek made it a 1-2 American finish, adding a silver to his victory in the 500.

Erben Wennemars of the Netherlands captured the bronze.

Chad Hedrick, skating the weakest of his individual events, put up an early time that stood until Davis bested it in the 19th of 21 pairs with a clocking of 1 minute, 8.89 seconds.

Four other skaters passed Hedrick as well, leaving the Texan in sixth place — still an impressive showing considering he was skating the 1,000 for only the seventh time in his career.

Davis came under scrutiny for skipping the team pursuit — especially when the Hedrick-led squad was knocked out in the quarterfinals, doomed by a slow skater who might not have been on the ice if Davis was available.

But Davis, world record holder in the 1,000, wanted to focus on his signature event. It certainly paid off.

Vonetta Flowers became the first black to win Winter Olympics gold at the Salt Lake City Games four years ago. She was a pusher on the two-woman bobsled team.

Short track

The South Koreans waited four years and ganged up on Apolo Anton Ohno, dropping the American star to an Olympic bronze medal in 1,000-meter short track speedskating.

Ahn Hyun-Soo won his second gold medal of these games and teammate Lee Ho-Suk took the silver.

The bronze gave Ohno a complete set of Olympic medals. In 2002, he won a disputed gold in the 1,500 over the South Koreans and took silver in the 1,000.

In his first event earlier in the week, Ohno stumbled while attempting a bold pass on the leader in the 1,500 and failed to get out of the semifinals. Ahn won the 1,500 and Lee finished second.

Jin Sun-yu and Choi Eun-kyung finished 1-2 in the women’s 1,500-meter short track speedskating final, and South Korea missed out on a podium sweep when Byun Chun-sa was disqualified for impeding.

China’s Wang Meng was awarded the bronze following Byun’s disqualification. Wang won gold in the women’s 500 on Wednesday.

Jin, the 2005 world champion, has been impressive all season — finishing in the top three at every World Cup meet.