The unpatriotic pose softened with each word, as Shani Davis eloquently explained what it was like to be an Olympic champion.
There wasn’t any anger in his heart, only the satisfaction of completing a chase that began with a joke to a friend in Chicago 11 years ago.
The chase ended dramatically recently, when Davis became the first African-American to win a Winter Olympic gold in an individual event.
Bound by purpose and dropping the unwelcome attitude over his decision to skip a team pursuit event earlier this week, Davis won the men’s 1,000 meters event at Oval Lingotto. He crossed the line in 1:08.89 to capture the third gold speedskating medal for the United States in these Olympics.
“Ever since I was a kid, I used to joke around with my friend and say, `Man one day I want to win the 1,000 meters.’ I had an opportunity to chase that dream.”
Accelerating in the final 400 meters, Davis beat out teammate Joey Cheek, who won gold in the 500 meters. Hedrick, who won the 5,000 meters event, finished sixth.
Hedrick, who had embraced the opportunity to duplicate the single-Winter Games mark of five gold medals – set by Eric Heiden in 1980 at Lake Placid – saw that chase fizzle when the U.S. men were upset by Italy in the quarterfinals of the team pursuit.
Davis’ decision not to compete to focus on the 1,000 touched off a firestorm over his perceived lack of patriotism and escalated talk of a feud between him and Hedrick. Davis, 23, is considered among the best in the sprints, and would have raised U.S. hopes considerably.
“I respect the talent that he has,” said Hedrick, who did not congratulate Davis after the race. “Whether he and I have the same outlook on things is different. Who knows what’s right or wrong? I’m here as part of Team USA and that’s what I’m going to do, whether it’s the team pursuit or practicing with everybody. I’m trying to create positive vibe so we can come out and represent out country the best we can.”
It had been an arduous trip from the streets of Chicago that began when Davis was six. He had no historic compass to speak of. Wilf O’Reilly of Great Britain was the first black speedskater to make the Olympics, winning two races in short-track speedskating in 1988, although the sport still was not an official part of the Olympic program.
Davis became the next in line, making the U.S. Olympic team in short-track in 2002.
“This is once every four years,” Davis said. “There’s no telling whether you will ever have the opportunity that you have right now because there’s always going to be someone else coming, so I did what I had to do.”