It was an American — the home crowd behind him — battling for a spot on the medal podium in the men's 500-meter final of short-track speedskating.
It was not Apolo Anton Ohno.
Emerging from the shadow of the athlete who has already won two medals here and dominated the sport's media coverage, Californian Rusty Smith took the bronze, behind Canadians Marc Gagnon and Jonathan Guilmette.
"Apolo has skated great, getting a gold and silver. Now I was able to get a bronze, so we are bringing home a treasure of medals," the two-time Olympian said after the race.
But this night belonged to the Americans' neighbors to the north.
In addition to the gold and silver in the 500 meters, the Canadian relay team successfully defended their Olympic victory in Nagano. Italy and China captured the silver and bronze, respectively.
"There is no description. I came here hoping for my first medal in these Olympic Games, but tonight I should get a second one (in the relay)," Gagnon said after the 500-meter, accurately predicting his team's next race. "I can't ask for more."
Gagnon is now the most decorated man in Olympic short-track history, with five medals over his nearly decade-long career. The dominant male short-track skater in the world for most of the 1990s, Gagnon dropped out of the sport for two years after Nagano and then decided to stage a comeback.
"It paid off in the end," he said. "It just shows if you have a dream, it can come true."
Going into the relay, it looked like a preview of today's North American hockey rivalry, the Americans and the Canadians fighting for the gold.
But with nearly half of the distance's 45 laps left to skate, Smith hit a block — the round nobs that designate the track — fell and lost precious time the Americans never recovered.
"We sprinted as soon as we fell, and it just took everything out of us," explained teammate Dan Weinstein.
Smith, who has struggled with a head cold and sinus infection for more than a week, made no excuses for his mistake, saying short track is a sport where, "if you're mad, you're mad at just one person: yourself."
Smith skated remarkably through the preliminary rounds of his individual event and even led the 500-meter final until the last lap. But the veteran Gagnon could not be stopped, and Guilmette edged into second place with a photo finish.
Ohno was disqualified for impeding in the semifinal after tangling with Terao Satoru of Japan. But he left the ice smiling, and when asked later if he deserved the call, he answered simply, "Yeah."
"I tried to set up the Japanese skater on the inside," Ohno said. "I tried to hold the track and ran out of room.
"My first Games and I got two medals — there's nothing better than that," he said.
Australian Steven Bradbury had another run of good fortune, qualifying in the 500-meter after two skaters in front of him tangled during a heat. It was a repeat of his gold-medal performance in the 1,000-meter, when he was the only skater left standing at the finish line.
"I've had a hell of a lot of luck in these Games, and I think I'll fly via Las Vegas on my way home," he joked with reporters after eventually being beaten in the quarterfinal.
For the women, it was another grand moment for arguably the most consistent athlete in the short-track speedskating: Yang Yang (A) of China.
Yang and Gagnon both set Olympic records Saturday night.
Yang also took the gold medal in the ladies 500-meter last week, making her the first woman to win two individual gold medals in the same Winter Games.
"Of course I feel very great," Yang said. "Four years ago I tried very hard to get it (a gold medal). I didn't, so I waited four years for this, and I have to say the value of the experience exceeds the value of the medal for me."
Countrywoman Yang Yang (S), who is related in name only, won the bronze medal, and Korean teenager Gi-Hyun Ko took the silver.
American Caroline Hallisey could not make it out of the quarterfinals, where she skated against Ko of Korea and Yang (A). "It was rather difficult," Hallisey said with a laugh.
But the 21-year-old from Natick, Mass., was not disappointed. "I set a personal best and I'm extremely happy with that," she said. She also made it into the final round of the 500-meter last week.
It was, however, a disappointing day for the Korean team. Their star, Dong-Sung Kim, did not make the men's 500-meter final, and the relay team did not skate, due to a disqualification in a semifinal earlier in the week.
The Korean Olympic Committee was also dealt a blow in its effort to overturn Kim's disqualification in the men's 1500-meter. Its appeal was dismissed early Saturday morning by an ad hoc division of the the Court of Arbitration for Sports.
The arbitrators determined the disqualification was a "field of play" decision, and as such cannot be reviewed by a CAS panel, unless the Koreans could present evidence that the the call was made with preference for or prejudice against a particular team or individual.
The International Skating Union denied a similar appeal Friday.
Salt Lake attorney Brent V. Manning said it is "not very likely" that the Koreans will pursue the matter in U.S. District court, as KOC officials indicated they might at a press conference Thursday. "In light of the present facts, there's not a very good argument for jurisdiction," Manning said.
Contributing: Jenifer K. Nii
E-MAIL: mtitze@desnews.com