Shani Davis wins gold in men’s 1,000 meter speedskating
Shani Davis was born on Friday, August 13, 1982, in Chicago, Illinois. Raised by his mother on the city's south side, he started roller-skating at local rinks at age two. By age three Shani was darting around the roller rink so fast that skate guards would chase him just to ask him to slow down. Seeming to become bored with roller-skating, at age six a coach suggested that Shani switch to ice skating. Shortly thereafter, his mother started working for an attorney, Fred Benjamin, whose son happened to be involved in speed skating at an elite level. It was at that time that Benjamin suggested that Shani give speed skating a try.
Shani joined the Evanston Speedskating Club at age six and within two months started competing locally. Though immediately taking to ice, at competitions Shani was generally more interested in running around with his competitors and playing video games than he was with competing. Nevertheless, by age 8 he was winning regional age-group competitions and began to hear about the Olympic ideal from his Northbrook competitors and friends. Shani's mother encouraged him to participate and, in an effort to build his endurance, woke him most mornings to run a mile on a track close to their home. As there were -- and still are -- no speed skating clubs in inner city Chicago, at age 10 Shani and his mother moved to the far north side of the city to be closer to the Evanston rink.
Shani won five National Age Group Championships (1995, 1997, 1999, 2000, and 2003) and also won a North American Championship in 1999. Though Shani was the first black speed skater to earn a spot on the U.S. Olympic Team in 2002, Shani does not concentrate on making black history. Shani began making skating history at age 17 when he became the first U.S. skater to earn spots on both the short track and long track Junior World Teams and accomplished that feat three years in a row in 2000, 2001 and 2002. At 22, not only did Shani win his third consecutive U.S. All-Around Championship and Regional Qualifier (long track events), Shani became the first U.S. skater to make all three World Teams in the same season in the 2004-2005 (World Sprint, World All-Around and World Short Track), medaling at all three events, and ultimately winning the 2005 World Allround Championships held in Moscow, Russia in February 2005. At 23, Shani won Gold and Silver at the 2006 Olympics held in Torino, Italy and also repeated his World All-Around Title in March 2006 in Calgary. In 2006-2007 season, Shani won world titles in the 1000 meter and 1500 meter events. In the following season (2007-2008) Shani repeated his 1000 meter World Title. For this 2008-2009 season, Shani won his first World Sprint Title in Moscow and his third 1500 meter World Title and currently holds two world records (1000m and 1500m).
In 2006, Shani Davis became the first African-American to capture an individual gold medal at the Winter Olympics when he won the 1,000 meters in long-track speedskating, a feat that led him to be described as the Tiger Woods of the predominantly white sport. Davis has drawn comparisons to Eric Heiden, who won five Olympic gold medals in 1980 and is considered America’s greatest speedskater.
Posts
