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At last, a row at the speed skating...
 China was disqualified when Wang, right, bumped Canada's Kalyna Roberge off line. SPECIAL REPORT
YOUR E-MAIL ALERTSTORINO, Italy (CNN) -- Compared to the disqualifications and bitter words that overshadowed the short track speed skating at the last Winter Olympics, the competition at the Palavela has been a constant procession of politeness. Until now. The Ohno affair at Salt Lake City, in which a disqualification gave the American the gold at the expense of South Korea's Kim Dong-sung, famously resulted in Ohno taking a security contingent with him when we next competed in Seoul. By contrast, disqualifications have been accepted by skaters in Torino in their stride -- or in their glide, depending on how quickly the tape of the race had been reviewed by judges. There has been a lot of love in the room, so much so that even Ohno and the South Koreans had made peace, or at least reached detente. But that all appeared to change after the final of the 3,000 meters women's relay. The South Koreans won, with Canada crossing the line second and China finishing third. That left hosts Italy in fourth place, prompting whistles and boos from the partisan crowd. The Chinese were undeterred, immediately grabbing a huge red and yellow flag from among their fans and beginning their celebratory lap. The celebrations were not to last. Up on the giant screen displaying the results, the letters "DQ" appeared beside the Chinese. Judges had deemed that Chinese skater Wang Meng had bumped Canadian Kalyna Roberge late in the face. China was out, propelling Italy to the podium after all. The jeers stopped, then all at once became frenzied cheers. The Italian skaters materialized on the ice to begin their lap of honor. Fair play?Yang Yang, a member of the Chinese team who also won gold at Salt Lake City, was less than impressed. "I hope we didn't lose the medal just because we were in Italy," she said. "It's the referee's decision. It's very disappointing but I hope sport is always fair play." Even Canada's Tania Vicent admitted she was unsure what had happened to merit the disqualification in the frantic final phases of the race. "We have to watch the race again on video, it's all a mess in our heads right now," she said. Another Canadian, Anouk LeBlanc-Boucher, was in no mood for commiseration, preferring instead to focus on her team's achievement. "I don't know about the Chinese. The Canadian team did it clean," she said. There was, of course, no doubt in Italian skater Katia Zini's mind. "The Chinese made an illegal move," she said. "We managed the race quite well." The gold medal win was South Korea's fourth of the Games, a performance that equals the best ever display in Olympic competition. Only Wang's gold in the 500 meters race has denied a South Korean sweep to this point. "When we thought that it could be our fourth gold medal ... it was a burden," Jin Sun-yu said. "But we forgot about that and focused on our game." PeaceTheir dominance might go some way to explaining the new era of improved relations between them and Ohno. Ahn Hyun-soo won the 1,500 meters final that Ohno did not even qualify for, as well as the 1,000 meters. In the latter, he got the better of Ohno at every stage. He admitted he was disappointed not to have had the chance to do the same in the 1,500 meters, adding that the 1,000 meters result gave him a "special feeling." On the podium, Ahn and compatriot Lee Ho-suk traded smiles and handshakes with the American, revenge having been finally delivered. And for Kim, the one man in the saga without a gold medal, Ohno is no longer a rival. "I think of Ohno just as a friend now," he said. "I have retired now and when Ohno retires it will all be in the past. We can be friends, no hard feelings." 
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