Australian speedskater lucks into gold during chaotic finish to weekend race

Monday, February 18th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) _ Steven Bradbury threw up his arms in disbelief and smiled as he glided across the finish line. The Aussie speedskater with streaked blond hair and a pierced eyebrow had just become the luckiest, most unlikely gold medalist of the Winter Olympics.

He also helped erase years of personal misfortune.

Bradbury admits he isn't among the fastest skaters in the world. He didn't need to be. All he had to do was stay on his skates.

He was the last man standing Saturday night after a spectacular final-lap spill took out his four rivals _ including favored American Apolo Anton Ohno _ who were far ahead in the 1,000-meter final.

``I had a lot of luck on my side,'' he said. ``I don't think I'll take the medal as the minute and a half race that I won. I'll take it as the last decade of the hard slog that I've put in and a reward for effort.''

The four-time Olympian said he intentionally skated from behind in all of his races, hoping crashes would take out his faster opponents. Then he could sneak through and maybe win a bronze.

His strategy succeeded in the quarterfinals, when two skaters crashed and Bradbury advanced. In the semifinals, two opponents went down and another was disqualified.

``Those were my tactics and they worked like a charm,'' said Bradbury, who had never finished higher than 19th in his previous individual Olympic races.

In the final, Bradbury lagged well behind the others, while Ohno zipped to the lead.

On the last turn of the last lap, China's Li Jiajun spun out after trying to take the lead from Ohno. South Korea's Ahn Hyun-soo then slipped and undercut Ohno and Canada's Mathieu Turcotte.

They went spinning on their backsides, crashing into the boards and leaving Bradbury a clear path to the finish line. Ohno got up, stumbled and then crawled the last few yards, sticking his left skate across the line just before Turcotte skated by.

``I saw them all on the ice and I was like, `Hang on. This can't be right. I think I won,' '' Bradbury said, laughing.

Ohno settled for silver and Turcotte took bronze.

``I'm happy for him,'' Ohno said, referring to Bradbury, who coincidentally makes the American's skate boots in a shop he runs at his parents' garage in Brisbane, Australia.

Even after the gold medal was draped around his neck, Bradbury was still shaking his head and smiling sheepishly.

The 28-year-old surfer with the goatee described the odds of him winning a medal as ``freakish.''

``It's just the way short track happens and I'm the one who gets the spoils,'' he said.

Bradbury has seen plenty of misfortune since 1994. That year, he nearly died after an accident during the last lap of a 1,500-meter race in Montreal.

He somersaulted in the air and got impaled on a skate. He lost massive amounts of blood and needed 111 stitches to close the wounds.

``I was extremely lucky to survive,'' he said.

Two years ago, he broke his neck in another skating accident and spent six weeks in a brace.

``It was a very scary moment in my life,'' he said.

While the crowd of 15,424 booed when Bradbury was shown as the winner, Ohno had no complaints. Turcotte didn't, either.

``It's obviously a hard thing for those guys the way the race went down, but I think most people are happy for me,'' Bradbury said.

Bradbury's medal was the first gold for Australia in the Winter Games. His bronze in the 5,000 relay in 1994 was the first Winter Olympics medal for his country.

He admitted having mixed emotions about winning despite being the slowest skater. But those feelings disappeared once the Australian anthem began playing and the country's flag went up.

``That was sort of a surreal feeling,'' he said. ``It was like there wasn't anyone else in the stadium.''

Bradbury doubted his medal chances enough to send Ohno an e-mail the night before the race, asking the American to give his company a plug if he won.

``I guess I don't need him to do that anymore,'' Bradbury said.