If anybody did not know the South Korean national anthem, they only had to turn up to the short track skating at the Winter Olympics and they would have ended up whistling it in their sleep.

The nation put in a record performance in Turin, hauling home six golds, three silvers and a bronze.

Two of their athletes took three golds each, a Games record only matched by German biathlete Michael Greis.

The numbers speak for themselves but to watch the South Koreans in action was simply to see some of the world's top skaters outclassed.

Jin Sun-yu, 17, won both the 1,000 and 1,500 metres by holding back for the first few laps and then suddenly overtaking wide to cross the line with streaks of space to spare. Her speed also helped South Korea to victory in the 3,000 relay.

No woman at the Games topped her haul of three golds and only compatriot Ahn Hyun-soo and Greis could match it.

Ahn, the dogged winner of the 1,000 and 1,500, won the 'run of the event' prize in an amazing men's relay.

South Korea and Canada had been fighting head-to-head for 45 laps until Ahn took the last pass and suddenly found a new burst of energy to shoot around the corner like lightning, stretch out a huge lead and cross the line standing bolt upright.

"Ahn has skated this Olympics unbelievably. I've never seen him skate this well," said American Apolo Anton Ohno.

Only Ohno and China's Wang Meng spoiled the South Korean gold rout, taking the men's and women's 500 titles.

Ohno gained unwelcome fame at the Salt Lake City Games when Kim Dong-sung was disqualified in the 1,500, giving him the gold and attracting the wrath of thousands of South Koreans who sent waves of hate mail and threatened to boycott U.S. goods.

With that still hanging over him, Ohno failed to defend his title early in the Games when he stumbled in the semi-finals, depressing both himself and his army of fans.

He fought back to take bronze in the 1,000 and the 500 gold but old ghosts resurfaced as some in the crowd said he should have shared the blame for two false starts in the 500 final and that he seemed to lean forward on the third.

Ohno said the start was fine and Ahn, who came third, said he would leave the judgement up to the referee.

Wang's win gave China its third Winter Games gold after Yang Yang took the 500 and 1,000 in Salt Lake City but the rest of the team had a long way to go to threaten South Korea's deep field of skaters.