BEIJING, China — Oh, no. It was a short track shutout for the Americans at the Beijing Olympics.
A program that has struggled to recapture the buzz and success it had when Apolo Anton Ohno was the star attraction failed to win a medal for the first time since 1998.
The blanking was complete when Kristen Santos suffered more bad fortune on the final night of short track on Thursday. She was bumped by another skater and wound up only making the “B” final in the women’s 1,500 meters, where she finished in second place.
Choi Min-Jeong of South Korea took the 1,500 meters gold, followed by Arianna Fontana of Italy with silver and Suzanne Schulting of Netherlands with bronze.
Santos, 27, of Fairfield, Conn., was the only American skater to even qualify for a medal final in Beijing. In the final of the women's 1,000 meters, she went down along with Fontana in the final lap and finished fourth.
Fontana was penalized for a lane change that caused the contact.
In other short track events, the United States qualified for the finals of only two other events.
In the men's 1,000 meters, Andrew Heo finished third in the "B" final. And in the women's 3,000-meter relay, the U.S. team was penalized and didn't place.
Jennifer Campbell-Hicks contributed to this report.
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