‘Sport can make the world one together’: A gold medalist comforts a tearful runner-up

Gold medalist Nao Kodaira (right) comforts Lee Sang-Hwa, the runner-up in the women’s 500 meters speedskating race (Eugene Hoshiko / Associated Press)

For every moment of exhilaration, every incredible wave of relief that overcomes an athlete, there’s a reminder that one person’s victory is another person’s loss and, sometimes, the end of the line.

Japan’s Nao Kodaira didn’t forget that after she beat South Korea’s Lee Sang-Hwa, the two-time defending Olympia champion, in the women’s 500-meter speedskating event in an Olympic-record 36.94 seconds. What was Lee, who won silver in 37.33, feeling? Perhaps a little disappointment because she has had a chronic knee injury and some relief as she considers whether to retire from competition. It was all a little overwhelming.

“I was relieved a lot as I could brush off the pressure,” Lee, who turns 29 later this month, said (via the Yonhap News Agency). “It was like a present for me, and my eyes were filled with tears. I’ve raced for the Olympics, and it finally finished. That’s why I shed tears.”

The two have been respectful rivals over the years, Kodaira, 31, told the Japan Times. “I really look up to her as a human being and a skater. She is my friend.”

“The sight of two of you embracing each other after the race and congratulating each other was really wonderful,” Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told Kodaira in a congratulatory call Monday (via Reuters).

Lee wasn’t ruling out an attempt at competing in the 2022 Olympics.

“Sometime in the last season, I asked Nao whether she would race at the Beijing Games. She answered. ‘Not without you,'” Lee said with a laugh. “At that time, I thought it was just a joke. But now, the question is too hard to give an answer to.”

And the bigger picture?

“Sport can make the world one together,” Kodaira said. “It’s simple.”

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