Olympic characterVictor Ahn (25.11.1985)Russian short track speed skater. Gold medalist of the Winter Olympics games in Sochi 2014.

Short track speed skating

• Short track speed skating is a form of competitive ice speed skating. In competitions, multiple skaters (typically between four and six) skate on an oval ice track with a circumference of 111.12 m. The rink itself is 60 m by 30 m,

which is the same size as an international-sized ice hockey rink.

ChildhoodVictor was born in Seoul, South Korea. The first time he saw sport competition on TV. It was winter Olympic games in Lillehammer. There appeared his idol Chae Ji-Hoon.

A start in life

Ahn began skating in elementary school. His first trainer was Kim Ki-Hoon.First award he received on Olympic games in Montreal (2002) in the team racing. He was 16 years old. But he was only the 4th in his personal race on distance 1000 meters.

Awards

In 2006 on winter Olympic games Ahn won gold medals on distance 1000 meters and 1500 meters. He set Olympic record time of 1:26.739 on distance 1000 meters. Also Ahn won gold on distance 5000 meters with teammates Lee Ho-Suk, Seo Ho-Jin and Song Suk-Woo.

Awards

He became second Korean sportsman, who got three gold medals in one Olympic games. Ahn Hyun Soo won four medals in the games in 2006. He was the first Korean sportsman who won three gold medals in single competitions.

AwardsAhn is only short track sportsman among men, who won five World Championships in a row. By the way, Canada’s short track legend Marc Gagnon has won four times.

Injury

On January 16, 2008, the Korean Speedskating Union (KSU) announced that Ahn had injured his knee after colliding with a fence during national team training at the Korea Training Center in Taeneung. After being sent to the hospital, the injury was diagnosed as a fractured knee.Due to injury he can not participate in competition in Quebec and Salt Lake City. Also he missed World Championships 2008.

Rehabilitation

After eight months off the ice, a Korean news article reported on September 5, 2008 that Ahn was back training, undergoing approximately two hours of physical reinforcement and skating along with around five hours of rehabilitation accompanied by muscular power training. The article also reported that Ahn was eyeing the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada.

Russian citizenship

Later, on 15 of August 2011, Russian unity of skaters announced, that Ahn would train in Russia and intends to get Russian citizenship. Ahn changed his name. He was called Victor. He explained it by that name Victor seems on word “Victory” and there's still very popular in Korea and Russia. He is a fan of Victor Tsoi. Ahn said, that he wants to be as famous.

Progress

On competitions Ahn stands for Moscow. He became only triple world champion of winter Olympic games, continuing career.

Progress

In March 2012 at the Russian Championships in short track he won distance 1000 meters and 3000 meters also took second place on distance 1500 meters as Korean sportsman. It was first victory before injury and changing citizenship.

Sochi 2014At the 2014 Sochi winter Olympics, Ahn won the bronze medal in the 1500 m short track of speed skating event.

The End

After the end of his career Ahn is planning to train Russian national team in short track skating.