Olympics: Japan's Kodaira wins women's 500 gold in speed skating

Japan's Olympic captain Nao Kodaira upstaged two-time defending Olympic champion and close rival Lee Sang Hwa in front of the South Korean's home fans to win the women's 500-meter speed skating gold medal at the Pyeongchang Winter Games on Sunday.The pre-race favorite, Kodaira tore up the Gangneung Oval in an Olympic-record 36.94 seconds to add to the silver medal she won in Wednesday's 1,000 meters."I was able to concentrate from the start, and pull out the kind of race I'm capable of," said Kodaira, who also owns a women's team pursuit silver from the 2010 Vancouver Games, but was only fi…READ FULL ARTICLE