MILAN -- The narrative would have been quite neat.
South Korea's last gold medal in the men's 5,000-meter short track speed skating relay had come in 2006 in the Italian host city of Turin. And ending the 20-year drought in another Italian city, Milan, on Friday night would have been one of the feel-good stories for South Korea at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics.
Instead, South Korea took silver behind the Netherlands at Milano Ice Skating Arena, with the quartet of Lee June-seo, Lee Jeong-min, Rim Jong-un and Hwang Dae-heon putting up a good fight but ultimately coming up short.
Shin Dong-min, the fifth member of the team who skated in the semifinals, was also awarded the medal.
And while all the skaters said they were pleased with Friday's result, they would love to take another crack at a gold medal in four years' time in the French Alps.
"I want to thank all of my teammates for ending this long journey on a good note. I am really happy that we all have a medal around our necks," said Lee June-seo, captain of the team. "I am a bit disappointed, but I'm just going to think that the Netherlands was just a bit luckier than we were. We'll be back four years later."
Lee said he wanted Hwang, the most experienced of the group competing in his third consecutive Olympics, to be the anchor. Lee Jeong-min, the designated speedster on the team who turned heads with impressive passes in the semifinals, came right before Hwang. Rim's task was to extend the lead handed to him by Lee Jeong-min.
"I stuck to the same approach in the final and I am satisfied with the way I made passes," said Lee Jeong-min, who dragged South Korea from third to second, and then from second to first in the late stages of the 45-lap race.
Rim, skating in his first Olympics at 18, said he cherished every moment he'd spent with his teammates during the Olympics.
"We've all been pursuing the common goal and we capitalized on a good opportunity here," Rim said. "I am so happy we all got to smile at the end."
Shin said he was more nervous watching the final from the sidelines than he has been skating in the semifinals, though he still trusted his four teammates to come through.
"Our veteran guys showed great leadership in leading the younger ones," Shin said of Hwang and Lee June-seo. "Of course, I was nervous watching the final but I didn't have any doubt."
Hwang, who is the first South Korean male short tracker to win a medal at three consecutive Olympics, also thanked his teammates for their faith in him.
"I hadn't done that much training as the anchor, but my teammates helped me so much," Hwang said. "We came up just short here and we will try to have better results four years later." (Yonhap)
