Grigory Dukor / Reuters

Apolo Anton Ohno of the United States celebrates on the podium after collecting his gold medal in the men's 500-meter speedskating final in Turin, Italy.

He took a victory lap in front of his flag-waving countrymen, hugged family members and almost leaped into a group of family and friends waiting just off the ice.

“Just emotion, so much emotion and passion,” Ohno said. “Everything was running through my body. It was crazy.”

So is short track, a sport where you never know whether you’ll be in the next race, much less the next Olympics. And coming into Saturday it hadn’t been a great games for Ohno.

He nearly fell in the 1,500 and was eliminated in the semifinals, and had to settle for bronze in the 1,000 after being overtaken on the next-to-last turn on a brilliant pass by South Korea’s Lee Ho-suk.

Ohno wasn’t the star attraction in Turin that he had been for the American team in Salt Lake City. That distinction belonged to Michelle Kwan and Bode Miller.

Still, Ohno believed he could match what he did in Salt Lake or do better. And Saturday night belonged to him.

“The pressures were a little bit different,” he said. “At no point did I ever think I didn’t have the ability to make that podium.”

Sometimes it takes more than ability in short track. The sport is a lot like NASCAR, where the biggest cheers are for the wipeouts, especially when two or more skaters go crashing into the padded boards.

That’s followed by men bizarrely attired in suits and skates conferring and looking at instant replays to see if anyone should be disqualified. That happened in the second heat of the night when China’s JiaJun Li was kicked out after masquerading as a human bowling ball on ice and taking out two fellow skaters.

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Ohno could be excused if he’s had enough of the sport that has consumed his life. He’s 23 now, and there comes a time when you lose the will and discipline to live in a cramped dorm in Colorado Springs, Colo., and train endlessly.

Ohno allowed as much, saying he would like more of a social life and wondering what path his life might take in the future.

There are, however, some pretty nice rewards.

Ohno now has five Olympic medals — two of them gold. The soul patch gets him recognized more than the average speedskater, and he’s a star in the world he competes in.

Every so often there are perfect races, and perfect days.

His happened to come at just the right moment, when everything mattered.

It made everything worthwhile.

“These days like this,” he said, “you hope will last an eternity.”