Originally published Tuesday, February 23, 2010 at 1:16 PM

If hairstyles was a medal sport, this skater wins

Ryan Bedford wanted to make an impression in his Olympic debut.

The Associated Press

RICHMOND, British Columbia —

Ryan Bedford wanted to make an impression in his Olympic debut.

That he did.

The American speedskater took the ice for Tuesday's 10,000 meters with a 'do that would've won gold if outrageous hairstyles were an Olympic sport. His head was shaved and colored to resemble an American flag, with red stripes flowing over the right side, while the left side was blue with stars carved out.

For good measure, he had the Olympic rings drawn out on the back.

"My teammate Chad Hedrick and I were joking around last night and he said, 'Let's do something crazy,'" Bedford said. "He came up with the idea of the shave. We weren't really thinking it was going to end up like this."

Bedford said a stylist worked on his hair Monday night, taking several hours to get the look just right. Wearing a baseball cap, he hid the design from most people until he came out to the oval to warm up for his lone individual race of the Olympics.

"It's something I wanted to do, something to represent the USA," he said.

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