SHANI DAVIS, THE ICE MACHINE

 

 
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THE ICE MACHINE

MILWAUKEE -- No American man has participated in more than four Olympic speedskating events since Eric Heiden's historic five-gold Games in 1980.

No one has tried to skate both long-track and short-track events since short-track joined the Olympic schedule in 1988.

No African American has competed in an Olympic long-track event.

Imagine being the skater trying to accomplish all that. Imagine being Shani Davis.

Davis is a 22-year-old Chicago native who quiets the skeptics on a daily basis.

I don't like getting caught up in the hype," Davis said. You lose focus if you're chasing someone else's accomplishments.

Heiden and Mark Spitz and Michael Phelps were great athletes and had great goals and accomplishments. What I do is skate, and what I want to do is be competitive."

Davis won his third all-around title Dec. 22 in the U.S. long-track nationals at the Pettit National Ice Center, winning two of the four events and finishing second in the others. In the sprint division, Davis took the overall silver, finishing no lower than fourth in any of the four races. In eight skates over five days, he set two track records, one of them erasing 1998 Olympic gold medalist Adne Sondral of Norway from the record book.

All this after only two weeks on the clap"-style long-bladed skates worn by long-trackers. Earlier this season, Davis was racing for the United States in short-track World Cups.

I'm doing this because I've been doing it since I was 6 years old, and I'm good at it," Davis said.

Good at it? Davis stands to go down as the most remarkable skater in history, insiders say.

The fact that he's even able to skate both long-track and short-track at this level is phenomenal," said U.S. Speedskating president Andy Gabel, the former Northbrook skater who competed on four Olympic teams.

U.S. long-track program coordinator Mike Crowe says it's speculation to think Davis is spreading himself too thin.

I've never seen another athlete do it or as well," Crowe said. At this point, I don't think I'd put any limits on what he is able to do."

The short-track trials next December in Marquette, Mich., are a five-day event, with preliminaries, semifinals and finals in each race. Just 10 days later, Davis will have six days of racing at the long-track trials at the Utah Olympic Oval. Originally, there was just a two-day gap between the meets, but U.S. Speedskating made the change to accommodate Davis.

We'll look at the overall picture," said Bob Fenn, who coaches Davis in long-track. It's how his recuperation time period is, and we'll go from there. We'll send in an entry form for all five events, absolutely. We're not giving anything up."

In the Olympics, short-trackers have three individual events and a relay, while long-track racers compete in five individual distances.

There's a twist for the 2006 Games in Turin, Italy, with the addition of the three-person long-track team pursuit, a race in which Davis could excel with his endurance and experience at skating in a group.

In fact, Gabel said it's the relay and team pursuit that might force Davis into a decision.

If he's off skating long-track in January and not practicing with his short-track relay team for three or four weeks, it's not fair to his team," said Gabel, a 1994 silver medalist in the short-track relay. I'd argue the same thing with the team pursuit."

The Olympic schedule has competition in both short-track and long-track on two days -- one of which features preliminaries in the short-track relay and qualifying in long-track team pursuit. Overall, Davis might face competition for three consecutive days before two days off, then race again seven of the next 11 days.

Davis' best distance might be the 1,500 meters, which is contested in both short- and long-track. He won the long-track 1,500 at the World Single-Distance Championships last year.

I'll bet you right now he'll win the long-track 1,500 at the Olympics," Gabel said.

Davis grew up in Hyde Park and began roller-skating with his mother, Cherie, when he was 21/2. A year later, he was darting around the rink, and I took him to a coach," Cherie recalled.

By the time he was 6, Shani was being urged to hit the ice. As luck would have it, Cherie Davis was working as a legal assistant at Benjamin and Shapiro. Fred Benjamin is a longtime speedskating official, and one day he asked Cherie to type up the minutes of the Illinois Speedskating Association, her introduction to the sport's club structure.

Next thing you know, Cherie was driving Shani to practices with the Evanston Speedskating Club. When Shani was about 10, they moved to Rogers Park to shorten the commute.

When we joined our club, there were 12 other black children, so we weren't aware this is a white sport," Cherie recalled. By the time Shani was 10, all the other black kids had quit. By then, he had invested so much and loved it so much."

Nathaniel Mills was one of Davis' early coaches in Evanston and was quickly impressed.

Mostly, his talent is between his ears," said Mills, a former Olympian from Highland Park who now works with an inner-city speedskating club in Washington. Few people truly understand his background, his struggle, his nature. I don't think he really cares, though, which is also key to his success."

Some think Davis might do well to hone in on one type of skating.

To try to [double] at the Olympics, I think he's jeopardizing his chance at a medal," said Bonnie Blair, who was a short-track world champion before winning five Olympic golds in long-track. He seems to enjoy short-track more, but I think he's more talented in long-track."

Davis admits he rather would have Olympic hardware than an ironman distinction that might be quickly forgotten.

Making five events might be cool," he said, but why make five distances if you aren't going to try to medal?"

(from US Olympic Team)

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