By Pearl Josephine Nazare
MILAN, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Dutch speed skater Joep Wennemars said his Olympic dream had been "ripped apart" after a collision with China's Lian Ziwen led to a hurried re-skate that he believes cost him a medal in the men's 1,000 metres at the Milano Cortina Games on Wednesday.
Wennemars - the 2025 world champion in the 1,000m and son of former sprint world champion Erben Wennemars - tangled with Lian during a lane change in the 11th of 15 pairs, leaving the 23-year-old Dutchman
furious. Lian was subsequently disqualified, and Wennemars was granted the chance to skate again.
Backed by a roaring, orange-clad crowd but skating alone, his second skate extended the session by around 15 minutes, forcing podium contenders to wait for their results to be confirmed.
Exhausted from his earlier effort, Wennemars could manage only the fifth-fastest time.
"I am devastated. My Olympic dream has been ripped apart. I am heartbroken - this is just horrible," Wennemars said.
"I was just racing my own line and then the Chinese guy blocked my road... I do not know what else to say.
"I was on my way to win a medal. It is a disgrace that I had to do the re-skate already half an hour later. If it was up to the ISU (International Skating Union), they wanted me to do it 20 minutes after the race had ended.
"It is unfair - everybody knows that. I had to do the re-skate without any wind flow and with no opponent to race against. Everybody here believes I would have won a medal."
American Jordan Stolz won the gold in an Olympic-record one minute 6.28 seconds, finishing 0.50 seconds ahead of Dutchman Jenning de Boo, with China's Ning Zhongyan taking bronze.
"The only way to still get a medal was to do the re-skate; they would not have handed it to me," Wennemars said. "But in two days' time nobody will be thinking about this moment, and I will still be without a medal."
He said Lian, 27, had apologised.
"But that (apology) does not help in any way. I was on my way to win bronze — perhaps even silver. The opportunity to win a medal has been taken away from me," Wennemars added.
"I do not know what to feel right now. I want to cry, but the tears won't come. I cannot believe it."
(Reporting by Pearl Josephine Nazare in Milan; editing by Clare Fallon)
