Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics

RICHMOND, B.C. – Maybe the long-track speedskating team’s revolutionary skinsuit made the difference. Maybe it was the full-time technician devoted to keeping everybody’s skates in top shape. Or perhaps it was one of the many other programs funded by Own The Podium that helped provide the edge.

Whatever the cause, Kristina Groves’ surprise and gutsy bronze medal in the women’s 3,000 metres Sunday came after one of those heart-stopping finishes that all too often in the past have ended with a Canadian on the wrong side of the equation.

This time? It was a visibly shaken Daniela Anschutz Thoms of Germany bent over, staring downward as she circled the ice while an ebullient crowd of 6,558 shook the Richmond Olympic Oval, agony and ecstasy separated by a mere three-hundredths of a second.

“Kristina was saying, ‘She got me, she got me by a little bit,’” said teammate Clara Hughes, who joined Groves in the oval’s infield to watch the final pairing of Anschutz Thoms and Dutchwoman Ireen Wust. “I said, ‘You did the best you could,’ and then we looked up and it said fourth beside Anschutz Thoms, it was great. …

“I got to watch my training partner, my teammate and my friend skate the 3,000-metre race of her life and come in third and win the bronze medal and it was beautiful. It was a great day for our team.”

That it was — and the message from the Canadians to their rivals on this day was clearly: “We’re ready, bring it on.’

Groves, the fifth-placed Hughes and Cindy Klassen, who was 14th, each skated their best possible race and would have had cause to leave the oval with their heads held high even with lesser results.

The big question at an Olympics is always whether the athletes bearing all the pressure to perform actually deliver when it counts the most. And the speedskaters have been carrying more than their share of pressure, with team officials privately feeling the team can win nine medals. Through the men’s 5,000 and women’s 3,000, two of Canada’s weakest events, the answer seems to be a resounding yes.

“Everyone has done everything they possibly can to prepare the best for these Games,” said Groves of Ottawa. “There’s been so much attention and so much focus on performing and doing it at home. To be able to do it here, the team has got off to a great start. We have an incredibly strong team … I think we’ll do really, really well.”

Groves, an all-rounder whose best events are the 1,500 and the 1,000, already is picking up a medal at a distance in which she’s generally a shade just behind the top girls. The first two steps on the podium went to form with Czech Martina Sablikova blowing away the rest of the field in a time of four minutes 2.53 seconds and German Stephanie Beckert, who chased down Groves in the final 200 metres of a white-knuckle pairing, taking silver in 4:04.62.

Groves finished in 4:04.84 and was convinced she hadn’t done enough to win a medal. She then settled in with Hughes and coach Xiuli Wang to watch the final pairing, knowing she’d given it her all.

“I knew I had done the best race I could and that’s all I can control,” the 33-year-old said when asked if it was tough to watch. “I obviously wanted the best race possible today and I think I did that. So it was a little nerve-wracking to watch, but that’s OK. It was only a couple of minutes.”

The Olympic medal is the third for Groves, who won silver in both the 1,500 and team pursuit at the 2006 Turin Games. More are likely. A five-time medallist at the 2008 world championships, Groves is a top contender in the 1,500 and 1,000. She also leads a pursuit team miles ahead of the competition and will skate in the 5,000.

Like her teammates, Groves said she got a charge from an oval alive in a sea of the customary orange of Dutch fans, who wildly cheered each skater as they zipped around the corners of the gruelling endurance test. There was also a strong and boisterous collection of red-clad Canadian fans, perhaps anticipating the long-track team’s first medal at the Games, stomping their feet and chanting, “Canada, Canada” when Klassen, Hughes and Groves stepped to the line.

“When I was sitting to put my skates on, Cindy was just starting her race and they announced her pair and they announced her and it just gave me goosebumps listening to the crowd,” said Groves.

“I’ve never really experienced that crowd that loud for Canada. It was deafening, just deafening.”

Added Hughes, who comes from Glen Sutton, Que: “I just felt like this is the greatest thing that we’ll ever feel as Canadian athletes.”

Hughes, the defending 5,000 Olympic champion and flag-bearer at the opening ceremonies, couldn’t wipe the smile off her face after putting up a time of 4:06.01. Her eyes screamed determination and focus and she zipped around the oval and pumped her fist several times after crossing the line.

“I skated the best I’ve skated in years technically today and it was just a little short for me,” said Hughes, who will race the 5,000 on Feb. 24 before ending her illustrious career. “When I finish a 3K and I wish it was a 5K, it means I’ve got good skating legs. You have to be satisfied when you give your best.

“There’s a lot of talk about medals, gold medals and medal count, and this and that, but for me it’s about how I feel on that ice and today I just feel very proud, very satisfied.”

For Winnipeg’s Klassen, simply competing at the Olympics was like victory in itself. Her knees will never be the same after surgery and she’s spent all season trying to reinvent herself as a skater, focusing on the finer points of technique with her trademark power a thing of the past.

The country’s most decorated Olympian with six career medals also had to overcome personal adversity, as well, after her sister was nearly killed when her car slid off an icy bridge into a frozen river in February 2008. Klassen ended her season early to be by her sister’s side as she made an amazing recovery.

“I guess the last four years, my faith in God is what grounds me,” said Klassen, a devout Mennonite.

“I didn’t even know if I’d qualify for the Games and I’m just so thankful to be here and it’s an honour to be able to represent Canada.”

Note:The start of racing for the final seven pairings was delayed for about 10 minutes after one of the ice-resurfacing machines spilled water near the inner lane’s finish line. Officials and coaches conferred while what appeared to be a rough spot near the centre-line was repaired. Skaters seemed unaffected by the mishap. … Jeremy Wotherspoon of Red Deer, Alta., leads a Canadian contingent of four skaters in the men’s 500 on Monday. He’s in the 12th of 19 pairs