TURIN (Reuters) - Shani Davis made history on Saturday by becoming the first black male to win an individual gold medal at a Winter Olympics when he cruised to victory in the speedskating 1,000 meters.

Confirming his status as the best skater over the distance, Davis, the 1,000 meters world record holder, was slow at the start but accelerated in the final 400 meters to cross the line with a time of 1:08.89.

"Since I was a kid I joked around saying one day I am going to win the 1,000. Now it's happened," he told reporters. "A childhood dream comes true."

Asked how he felt to be the first black man to win a gold medal, Davis said: "I don't know. I think it's cool to have a gold medal regardless of the color. Although African-Americans choose basketball or some other sport I chose a different route," he said.

"Regardless of the color I wake up in the morning and work as hard as anybody."

"It's still a breakthrough though."




http://news.yahoo.com/s/n...N1YmNhdA--

Shani is a great guy, so is Joey Cheek.....great winners! I'm glad dutch-guy Erben Wennemars refrained asshole Chad Hedrick from getting a medal!


[Edited 2/19/06 7:14am]

I wonder what Bryant Gumball thinks about all this.

abierman said:

Yeah, Hedrick is such an asshat. Shani made the right decision by not skating with him.

Okay, I'm prepared for the beating.

I don't know how I feel about the whole Davis Hedrick fiasco. Someone please explain what happened. I mean didn't Davis say way before the Olympics that he WOULD be on the team skate. Because if he did and then changed his mind when he got there, that's f'd up. But I don't know since I'm not there.

They showed no class regardless. I was ashamed.


M

i havent followed the olympics in ages. but thats nice he won. i heard he's from chicago, even better

that's awesome I love how the long track skaters look in their suits while skating.....they're so long and lanky. I just saw a clip of his interview after his win.....he didn't seem happy. The reporter asked if he was mad I guess it's because of that whole not doing the team relay thing.....and the media blowing shit out of proportion. Apolo got the bronze .....whatever it was just nice to see him out there on the ice.

AnckSuNamun said:

Don't know what race you watched, but Erben Wennemars (Netherlands) got the bronze.....

MIGUELGOMEZ said:

from http://www.keithboykin.com/

Davis was criticized for not competing in the team pursuit competition last week that would have given Hedrick a chance at five gold medals. Davis said he wanted to focus on his individual events. And in the end, it was Chad Hedrick who was the hater. Asked after the 1,000 meter race if he was happy for Shani Davis, Hedrick instead replied: "I'm happy for Joey."

Then, showing the team spirit that he criticized Davis for lacking, Hedrick said, "Once Shani beat me, I didn't care if I got a bronze. I'm here to win. It's all or nothing." Now isn't that ironic. It's okay for Chad Hedrick to focus on individual victory but not for Shani Davis.

dreamfactory313 said:

well, it's clear that Hedrick is the pompous asshole here! I guess he thought the dutch skaters weren't any competition for him....
Again, Davis & Cheek are great winners, a big to them! Let Hedrick piss off back to Texas, where that other pompous athlete is from as well.....(Lance Armstrong, anyone?).

Really, Hedrick should take an example of how the women-skaters get along with their competitors. It was great to see Marianne Timmer (Netherlands, gold), Cindy Klassen (Canada, silver) and Annie Friesinger (Germany, bronze) on the podium in great harmony for the 1000 metres today!
[Edited 2/19/06 15:50pm]

AnckSuNamun said:

They do have this really elegant, poetic look to their movement on the ice.

whats this olympic thing of which you speak?

sosgemini said:

the world has this big series of athletic events held every four winters and summers. athletes from countries from around the world are invited to compete. medals are given to the top three winners in each event.

dreamfactory313 said:

Hedrick wanted to match Eric Heiden's all time record, that was all he cared for, he won't be even close!

dreamfactory313 said:

ahh..another Liz Taylor wedding ehh?

sosgemini said:

U got it!

I was..am very happy for him. Don't know what's up with Chad though. We need more diversity in the olympics...come on people.

Hedrick was just mad that all his tobacco chewin', F-150 duallie drivin', redneck friends back in Texas are going to kid him that he got beat by a brother on ICE!

Lammastide said:

I thought the same thing.

I was happy for Shani. He deserved it cause he skated his ass off. That whole business between Shani and Chad is so stupid. Chad is a hater and he got what he deserved last night.

purplecam said:

Lammastide said:

i can't believe bryant went there!! that shit was gangsta!

he had to know he was going to offend nearly half the world with that monologue.

Lammastide said:

he should be proud, with the snob that he is...

abierman said:

Apolo from the short track events

Tootall4yall said:

I was going to say something along those lines but I chose not to. I've really wondered if there was some kind of racism in all of this. Who knows?

Heres Shani rising his fist during with his silver medal during the ceremony yesterday. Its telling.

anybody catch the press conference?!

sinisterpentatonic said:

Yeah. That was the most uncomfortable thing Ive seen in a long time. There was so much tension, u could cut it with a knife. There hasnt been this much beef during the WINTER OLYMPICS since Nancy and Tonya over 10 years ago.

dreamfactory313 said:

i thought is was going to be fraizer and Ali all over. Wouldn't be nice if these guys did end up on pay-per-view?


i would've loved to hear how those guys vented to their friends off camera!