Gold at last This time, no judging scandal could take it away, and the favorite didn't fall to the ice. Catriona Le May Doan — the Cat, as she is known to her friends—ended Canada's frustration Thursday night by living up to her reputation as the fastest woman on ice and winning the gold medal in long-track speedskating's 500-meter race.
Long-track speedskating — an enduring sport Like skiing, the sport of speedskating originally was a form of travel for residents of the north countries. More than 3,000 years ago, by some estimates, people first strapped bones or bits of wood to the bottoms of their shoes and wobbled down frozen rivers. The Vikings, especially, were very big on skating.
