Wow, yesterday was another interesting day for long track speedskating at the Olympics...

Beware, this is a pretty biased post...

As I said in an earlier post, I was getting really tired of the Chad Hedrick & media created rivalry between Chad and Shani. Chad is the kind of athlete that the media loves - he talks a lot, he says whatever is on his mind, he wants everyone to love him, and he adores the spotlight on him. Shani just wants to go out there and do his best - he's been burned by the media before so he's wary of them, and he knows that reports have been painting him as the bad guy - but the only way to win this fight is on the ice.

It seems like everyone is talking about it. As much as I've said I'm sick of it, I just wanted to get a couple things off my chest and just let it go after today (of course, after replying to any comments that I disagree with).

It all comes down to this: Should Shani have skated the team pursuit? Before I said I was on the fence about it. However, I've seen interviews and read up on it a little more and agree with Shani. Chad says that any good teammate would be on the team to help the US win a gold, it's the patriotic thing to do, rather than think about your own race and yourself. He felt betrayed that Shani didn't speak to him about not skating, and has said that being on the relay would be a sure win for the US. Come on now, is ANYTHING a sure win in the Olympics? We know the answer to that.

Chad had some pretty good points....if speedskating was a team sport.

Something that the media has frequently failed to mention are these points:

- Shani has NEVER skated the team pursuit before

- the US brought people to skate the relay. Shani was part of the 2002 short track team as an alternate, but never got to skate. He swore after that he would never take anyone's chance away to skate at the Olympics

- Shani's best race was the 1000m, two days after the team pursuit. He wanted to concentrate on his best race - that's what he really came to the Olympics for. Sure, Chad was in the 1000m, also, but it's Chad's weakest race, he wasn't expected to medal. As Shani has said, "Would it have been the same if the 5,000 (Chad's best distance) was right after the team pursuit? We'll never know."

- If Shani lost the 1000m, he would have gotten a lot of flack for it, since he has consistently won it in competitions. As Dan Jansen said, either way - skating the TP and maybe not winning the 1000m or not skating the TP and winning the 1000m, he'd get criticized. It's a lose lose situation.

- The press has hinted that Chad was really angry at Shani for not skating the team pursuit because that meant that Chad's quest for 5 golds was jeopardized. Hey, what was Shani skating for? Just a silver? Because if Chad DID get 5 golds, that's all Shani could have hoped for in his races. Speedskating isn't a team sport - they ALL want the gold.

However, I think Shani's post interview after the 1000m was weird. He was cold, distant, guarded and barely spoke more than 5 words to answer a question. This was not the Shani I know! Then the reporter asked, "Are you angry?" (what the hell kind of leading question is that?) he said no, then turned away and smiled. Bizarre! Of course, it was hardly mentioned on NBC that Chad had congratulated silver medalist Joey Cheek, but did not say anything to Shani, which probably made Shani upset.

It was more refreshing to see him interviewed for our local news, smiling, ecstatic, friendly and eager to talk. This is the Shani I'm used to! He had a much better interview with NBC after the medal ceremony, where he talked about hoping to show kids that they could stick with something and make their dreams come true.

As for the feelings after the 1000m, here's a couple quotes from the guys after the 1000m:

Like all good catfights, he neither congratulated Davis for beating him in the race (Hedrick finished sixth) nor had much praise for him. Are you happy for Shani, he was asked.

"I'm happy for Joey," he said. "Joey has been skating real well."

Davis laughed at it.

"At least he said I skated fast. That was nice."

Davis isn't even surprised. He said he has "a lot of respect for Chad" and said it was natural for them to butt heads.

Then came the 1500m race, the distance that both these guys have held world records in. It was the showdown of the century, well, for speedskating anyway. NBC hyped up the tension between Shani and Chad, so much that outspoken Chad didn't even want to talk about it anymore. Who would win the showdown? Who would get bragging rights?

Enrico Fabris has 'em!

Yes, the home team gets a winner when drama-free Enrico Fabris had an amazing last lap that Chad and Shani had to beat, which they didn't. The two golden boys had to settle for lower spots on the podium - Shani with the Silver and Chad with the bronze. Chad was visibly upset after his race, taking a lap with his hands on his lap to cool down. After his race, Shani smiled, shrugged in an "Oh well!" sort of way, and congratulated Fabris after Chad did. What you didn't see on TV (if you were in the US) was Chad going to take off his skates an d sulk while Shani stayed on the ice and waved to fans and talk to other skaters.

The home crowd was going crazy! As much as I wanted the US to win, it was great to see an Italian win...they are such a great crowd.

Of course, Chad and Shani didn't touch each other, although I've seen news reports that they congratulated each other.

I was relieved that the drama was over. The post interviews were ok, Shani's was much better than his post gold one. It seemed like the speedskating world would be OK. Also, Shani and Chad wouldn't have to touch each other since they were on opposite sides of the podium. Chad had a nice

But then NBC televised footage from the post-race press conference. All I could say was WOW. Even Dave shushed me when we were watching it.

"I'll be honest with you," said Davis, the first black athlete in Winter Olympic history to win an individual gold medal. "Sure, Chad and I are fighting for the same thing. But it would have been kind of nice after I won the 1,000 if he would have been a good teammate and shook my hand, just like I shook his hand -- or hugged him -- after he won the 5,000."

After he said that, all the reporters turned to Chad for his rebuttal. Shani got up and walked out. Chad was left there, drinking a glass of water, smiling, much like Bush did after he was told about 9/11, trying to formulate what to say. The pause was so uncomfortable that people actually started laughing. Then he came back with this:

"We're all part of Team USA," Hedrick said. "We had a great opportunity to win the team pursuit. I felt betrayed in a way. Not only did he not participate, he wouldn't even discuss it with me as a leader of the team. I thought we passed up a medal."

Waa waa waa...stop bringing it up! Shani won a 1000m gold for team USA. Shani didn't do every interview possible to make another teammate look bad. Shani is there to win, but he's happy with his results when he tries his best, he doesn't say things like, "I didn't come here to finish third,'' Chad said. "I'm not happy with what I did. This is not what I sacrificed my whole life to do.''

Chad always talks about being part of the team, being a good teammate. Shani had a good point - a good teammate would have shook hands after losing...a good teammate would have been happy for a fellow teammate to win. For as much as Chad cries about Shani being a bad teammate, Chad was not only a bad teammate, but also a bad sport after the 1000m. His argument would have been much stronger if he just sucked it up and congratulated Shani rather than going to the "I didn't congratulate him because I felt betrayed" deal.

I wish this whole thing would go away. Shani's a great guy that has a lot of love for speedskating, he doesn't deserve to be involved with this big mess...his experience here should have been something more positive, something kids could really look up to. But now, in a way, it's a little bit tainted with all the drama. Truthfully, I don't know much about Chad. Never met him, don't know much about his backstory, but he came across to me before the Olympics as charming, confident, and a little cocky.

Gladly, they don't have to race anymore.

So the scoreboard reads: Shani - gold and silver, Chad - gold and bronze.

Hee hee.

I just wanted to get that off my chest.

Feel free to debate.

Articles used:
Fabris tops Americans for 1500m gold
Speedskating smackdown

Posted by Yano at February 22, 2006 08:29 AM

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