Skating Sandman
ezOP
Posts: 17
(10/19/05 23:10)
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Shani wants it all!!!
Ausnahmetalent Shani Davis geht seine eigenen Wege, um bei Olympia sowohl im Longtrack als auch im Short Track an den Start zu gehen.
Bericht aus courier-journal.com .
EzCode Parsing Error: size=3]COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Shani Davis could become one of the breakout stars for the United States in the 2006 Winter Olympics.
If so, he'll have taken one of the more unusual paths to greatness.
Im Short Track fordert Shani seine Teamkollegen heraus, hier im Bild mit Olympiasieger Ohno Bild von www.ohnozone.netwww.ohnozone.net
Davis wants to be the first U.S. speedskater to make both the long-track and short-track teams. He's vying to become the first African American to qualify for the long-track event and the second to win a Winter Games medal. And he's trying to do all this basically on his own, after splitting from U.S. Speedskating over a sponsorship dispute.
"I really try to stay true to myself, through thick and thin," Davis said.
The 23-year-old qualified for the 2002 Olympics on the short-track team and owns the world record in the 1,500-meter long-track race. He's considered a virtual shoo-in to win a long-track medal in Turin but much more of a long shot in the bump-and-grind short-track events.
Training for both is roughly equivalent to getting ready for a 10K race and a 100-meter sprint at the same time.
"It's nearly impossible," short-track star Apolo Anton Ohno said. "But if there's one person I think who can do it, it's definitely Shani because he's so talented. I've yet to meet somebody who has as many skills as he does."
Since some of the short-track and long-track competitions could be held on the same day in different cities, many people wonder why he doesn't focus on one or the other.
"I just can't get enough of skating," he said. "As long as I'm having fun, it doesn't really seem that impossible."
Getting to this point seems implausible enough. Davis grew up in Hyde Park, a predominantly black neighborhood on the south side of Chicago. His mother, Cherie, used to take him to a roller-skating rink on the weekends.
"I liked it in the roller rink because there were always lots of video games," he said. "I'd skate as fast as I could and then ask Mom for a dollar to play those games. I was always trying to barter to get those quarters."
By the time he was 6, Davis said, he went around the rink so fast, "people thought I was dangerous. They thought I was going to kill myself."
Cherie worked as a legal assistant to Fred Benjamin, a long-time speedskating official. He suggested Davis try the ice. His mom would drive him to suburban ice rinks while neighborhood kids made fun of him for wearing tights and competing in an all-white sport.
When he was a teenager, Davis moved to Lake Placid, N.Y., to train with the national team. He was one of three African Americans in his school, he said.
EzCode Parsing Error: face=times new roman color=black size=2]Shani bei den 2004 Long Track Allround World Championchips in Hamar/[/i]
Vonetta Flowers won the first Winter Olympics medal by an African American in the women's bobsled at the 2002 Games, and Davis hopes to be a pioneer in his own right. He said after he made the 2002 team, some inner-city kids from Washington, D.C., asked him how they could get involved in skating.
"What it does is it just opens the eyes of everyone when someone is doing something different," Davis said. "You don't see someone of color skating on a track. It's almost like a blur.
"And it shows them that they can do things that are different besides just tossing a football or a baseball or shooting a basketball. I'm showing them that stepping outside of the bubble is OK."
Davis is the kind of athlete U.S. Speedskating could use to market its sport, except that he wants nothing to do with the governing body.
Earlier this year, the organization voided his contract because he wore the logo of a Dutch bank, one of his personal sponsors, on his team uniform at two competitions. He was required to wear only the patches of official team sponsors.
The dispute is under arbitration, but Davis has not received funding, coaching or ice time from the U.S. body. He trains on his own in Calgary and has to pay his way to competitions, though he receives help from his bank sponsor.
This isn't the first time he's encountered controversy. In 2002, after he earned the final spot on the short-track squad, another skater charged that Ohno and Rusty Smith -- two of Davis' close friends -- had fixed a qualifying race to help Davis make the team. An arbitrator found no evidence that had occurred.
Still, Davis wasn't chosen for the Olympic relay team. That whole episode still drives him and has convinced him that his unusual path toward Turin is the only way to go.
"It will just be satisfying to say I made both teams and that I have a choice -- I have a say so," he said. "I can do what's best for me." www.courier-journal.com[/font]
Shani Davis Website:
http://shanidavis.org/
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