Shaolin Sándor Liu: I'm a genius. I stood there, and I did it!

– You've been very much out of the public eye for the last two days, but this 1500m event clearly showed that you got up from the floor. How did you do it?
– I wondered if there had been a more difficult moment in my life than when it turned out that the gold medal had been taken away from me. Then, I realized that I experience much more difficult moments when I get up in the morning every day than I did two days ago – said Shaolin Sándor Liu recalling Monday's high-profile incident when he was disqualified from the 1000m final he won. – I was thinking about it a lot and I realized that I am a genius: I stood there, and I did it. On Wednesday, it wasn't about winning because I knew the 1500m isn't my strongest event. It's a huge thing that I made it to the final, that I skated an Olympic record that day, which was almost broken in the final, so I was a little nervous... I'm very happy and I can only repeat myself: I'm a genius!

– Your younger brother, Shaoang, at the medal ceremony on Tuesday with the bronze around his neck, calmed everyone down and said that you two are professionals and were able to get over what had happened.
– Thank you very much, we really are professionals. When I thought I had won, and shortly afterwards I went to hell from heaven as the yellow card put me from first to last place in the 1000m, Ádó came up to me and I only said, "I love you very much.” We helped each other, and on Wednesday, we showed together that we are really able to get off the floor because the 1500m is not one of our favorite distances, but yet we made it to the final. It was not unnoticeable that this time the head referee was more restrained, making almost no decisions during the day. When I bumped into the Canadian guy in the semifinals on Wednesday, it was just like one of the cases that was contested in the 1000m final, but I wasn't nervous about it at all because I knew that this time the referee wouldn't disqualify me then – and he didn't.

– When you didn't stop in the mixed zone after the 1000m final, did your anger took you to the locker room, or did you plan that is it better not to speak immediately after your disqualification?
– Anger never takes anyone forward. I wasn't and I'm not angry. I think I won Monday's final, I didn't see myself at fault. By the way, I was thinking for a while about whether to look back at the race that day, and then I did: I still don't think I made a mistake. One of the beauties of this sport would be that there is some contact between the skaters, and no one lost pace in any of the contacts – except for me when one of the Chinese pulled me down. Otherwise, everyone could have been disqualified... It was better that I didn't speak immediately after the final, and on Wednesday afternoon, I was thinking about going to the head referee, the sentences were even in my head, but then I rejected the idea. I'll save it for the last day...

– Who or what helped you for us to see the old Shaolin Sándor Liu on the ice again on Wednesday?
– A lot of people helped. I followed the events on the Internet; it felt good that so many Hungarian people stood by me, but my Chinese fans and fans from other countries also supported me, so I went to bed that day as an individual Olympic champion.

– Did you discuss what happened with your Chinese coach, Lina?
– We didn't talk for a while because she was also very upset. Then she told me that I am already an Olympic champion, and not only I, but everyone knows this, and that I shouldn't let this get me down. She's right because even if they were not such a serious case, but things like this have happened to me before. If I wasn't strong then, I wouldn't be here at the Beijing Olympics, and I wouldn't be one of the best short-track speed skaters in the world.

– You skipped the ice training on Tuesday. Why?
– I was tired. I'm getting older, I can't do all the training. On Wednesday, though, I think I made up for everything.

– The medal ceremony is always a special experience. Will we meet there again in Beijing?
– If I push Ádó to the podium next time, then yes. At the end of the 1500m finale, I was really thinking about pushing him a little bit from behind, but then I didn't do it.

– You're back to your old self, and not just on the ice, which is encouraging. But back to the medal ceremony and the next few days: there's only one distance left in the individual, the 500m. It's your favorite.
– That's why we've been thinking about letting go of the 1500 or not putting ourselves there completely, but like I said before, we're geniuses, so we can't not do the longest distance. I hope that one day at this Olympics fate will come to our side. If not, in four years' time in Milan.

– Let's not forget the men's relay. You all are also the favorites there.
– In addition, Alex Varnyú will be with us by then, so this will only strengthen our team. The bronze medal in the mixed relay and the 1000m final gave everyone a huge boost, even if it was somewhat unlucky. By the way, I read on the Internet that some people have started a petition about me not only losing the gold medal, but also fifty million forints and to collect the amount for me. I support the proposal, but I'm obviously joking because the Olympic performance has a much greater ideological value than the financial one. I think I still have a good chance of winning a gold medal at this Olympics.

– You said you were constantly checking the Internet and it was good to see a lot of people supporting you. Is it that important to be loved?
– Yes. I wouldn't be here without the fans; we're also doing it a little bit because of them. We want to give them a show every time as that's part of our job.

– Has your number of followers increased since Monday?
– Yes. When I came to Beijing, I was at sixty-four thousand, and that number has grown to one hundred and twelve thousand.

– Your younger brother said he cannot be happy with the bronze medal he won in the 1000m because he wasn't on the podium with you. Let's flip it: were you happy for your brother's success?
– Before the medal ceremony, I asked him if he would be very angry if I didn't go there with him as I had to get my act together mentally. I enjoyed my break, and he didn't insist on accompanying him. I was very happy for him to be on the podium. However, I would have been even happier if he had the bronze, and I was the gold medalist...

– Your brother also said he hopes he wouldn't be the most successful Winter Olympian with the three medals for long.
– And how well he said it! I'm in good shape and despite what's happened, I feel like I'm going to make a big move at this Olympics. In the fall, I wasn't in a condition to be able to skate like this, but I really worked a lot and Ádó also saw that. I think that's why he said that he might not be the most successful Hungarian winter Olympian for long.

On behalf of Nemzeti Sport, Gergely Kohán, Erika Kovács (text), and Károly Árvai (photo) report from Beijing.

Translated by Vanda Orosz