Speed Skating competition at the 2002 Olympic Winter Games yielded eight world records and many surprising story lines.

Jochem Uytdehaage (NED), a 25-year-old making his Olympic debut, won two gold medals (5000 meters, 10,000 meters) and a silver (1500 meters). Rival skater Derek Parra (USA), who was second to Uytdehaage at 5000 and defeated him in the 1500, hailed the Dutchman as "King of the Games."

If Uytdehaage was the king, then who was the queen? How about Germany's Claudia Pechstein, who won her third consecutive gold medal in the ladies' 5000 meters and added a gold in the ladies 3000. She now has seven Olympic medals in her career, including four gold.

Germany's Sabine Voelker added three medals -- silvers in the 1000 meters and 1500 meters and a bronze in the 500 meters.

Led by Pechstein, Voelker and ladies' 1500-meter champion Anni Friesinger -- who had top-6 finishes in three other events -- the German speed skating team won eight medals, including three gold. The USA had a team-record six skaters pick up a total of eight medals, including three gold. Skaters from The Netherlands also won eight medals, including three gold.

One of the world's best speed skaters, Gunda Niemann-Stirnemann (GER) was in attendance at the Utah Olympic Oval but did not compete. She's pregnant and working for a German television network.

In addition to the eight world and 10 Olympic records established here, Olympic skaters also recorded 86 national records and 193 personal records on the fast Utah Olympic Oval ice.

Catriona Lemay Doan (CAN) successfully defended her gold medal at 500 meters, highlighted by an Olympic-record 37.30 in her first race. She also owns the world record of 37.22 established in late 2001 in Calgary. Monique Garbrecht-Enfeldt (a combined 0.19 seconds behind) won the silver, Sabine Voelker (0.44 seconds behind) the bronze.

Chris Witty (USA), the only American speed skating medalist in 1998, won a surprising gold in the 1000 meters with a world-record 1:13.83 -- 0.13 of a second ahead of silver medalist Voelker (1:13.96). It was the closest finish in any single race during the 2002 Olympics. A month before the Olympics, Witty was diagnosed with the strength-sapping viral disease mononucleosis. The USA's Jennifer Rodriguez won the bronze in 1:14.24. Defending Olympic champion Marianne Timmer (NED) was fourth.

Anni Friesinger, who had finished just out of the medals in two previous races here (fourth at 3000 meters and fifth at 1000 meters), won the gold in the 1500 with a world-record 1:54.02. Voelker (1:54.97) won the silver and Rodriguez (1:55.32) the bronze.

Claudia Pechstein (GER) won the 3000 meters by improving her previous world record to 3:57.70. She was the 1998 3000-meter silver medalist in Nagano. Renate Groenewold (NED) won the silver in 3:58.94 and Cindy Klassen (CAN) the bronze in 3:58.97.

What could Pechstein do for an encore? She blistered the ice for a world record 6:46.91 in the 5000 meters, winning her third consecutive Olympic gold medal at the distance. Little-known Gretha Smit (NED) won the silver in 6:49.22 -- the world record for about an hour -- and Clara Hughes (CAN) won the bronze in 6:53.53. Hughes won two bronze medals in cycling at the 1996 Atlanta Games.

After two heats of the 500, only 0.03 of a second separated gold medal winner Casey Fitzrandolph (USA) from defending Olympic champion Hiroyasu Shimizu (JPN), who won the silver. Fitzrandolph had times of 34.42 and 34.81, while Shimizu, the world record holder, turned in times of 34.61 and 34.65. Kip Carpenter (USA) was a combined .21 of a second behind Shimizu for the silver. The second heat was won by favored Canadian Jeremy Wotherspoon who had fallen on the first day.

Gerard Van Velde (NED) put a decade of Olympic frustration behind him by winning the 1000 meters with a world record 1:07.18. He was fourth in the 1992 Olympic 1000 meters, widely hailed as the closest speed skating race in Olympic history. Countryman Jan Bos (NED) won the silver in 1:07.53 -- repeating the silver he won at the distance in 1998. Joey Cheek (USA) won the bronze in 1:07.61.

Derek Parra (USA) won his specialty, the 1500 meters, with a world record 1:43.95. Uytdehaage (NED) won the silver in 1:44.57 and later said that watching Parra's emotional reaction after winning was his highlight of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games. Adne Sondral (NOR), the defending gold medalist, won the bronze in 1:45.26.

Earlier, in the first race of the 2002 Olympic speed skating program, it was Uytdehaage who won the 5000-meter gold with a world record 6:14.66. Parra picked up a surprising silver medal in 6:17.98 and Jens Boden (GER) the bronze in 6:21.73.

The final men's distance was the 10,000 meters. Uytdehaage claimed his third medal of these Olympic Winter Games, gliding to a world record 12:58.92 -- first sub-13 time ever at the distance. Defending Olympic champion Gianni Romme (NED) lost for the first time in three Olympic races -- he won two gold medals in 1998 -- and took the silver in 13:10.03. Lasse Saetre (NOR), skating in the final pair, took the bronze in 13:16.92.

--John Pitts