Shani Davis

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Shani Davis
Country	United States
Date of birth	August 13, 1982 (age 24)
Place of birth	Chicago, Illinois
Height	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Weight	84 kg (185 lb)
Website	Official Site
Titles
Highest World Ranking	1st
Medal record Men's speed skating Olympic Games Gold 2006 Turin 1000 m Silver 2006 Turin 1500 m World Championships Gold 2007 Salt Lake City 1000 m Gold 2007 Salt Lake City 1500 m Bronze 2007 Hamar Sprint Gold 2006 Calgary Allround Gold 2005 Moscow Allround Silver 2004 Hamar Allround Gold 2004 Seoul 1500 m Men's short track speed skating World Championships Gold 2005 Beijing 5000 m relay

Shani Davis (born August 13, 1982 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American speed skater who competes in both short track and long track speed skating.

At the 2006 Winter Olympics, Davis became the first black athlete to win a gold medal in an individual sport (1,000-m) and the fifth black Winter Olympics medalist. He also won the silver in the 1,500-m. He won the allround World Allround Championships in both 2005 and 2006, after winning the silver medal in 2004, and won the World Single Distance Championships 1,500-m in 2004. Davis has set a total of five world records, three of them standing as of end-of-season 2006: 1:07.03 in the 1,000-m, 1:42.68 in the 1,500-m, and 145.742 in the allround samalog.

In short track speed skating, Davis is notable for his stature. At 6'2" (188 cm), he is the tallest American short track speed skater; most short trackers are much shorter, making it easier to race low to the ice.^[1] "It's hard for me to get low and do all this leaning and trying to protect my track," said Davis.^[2] Since 2002, Shani has trained out of Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 2.1 Junior level competition 2.2 Olympic qualification race controversy 2.3 A dream deferred 2.4 Turning pro 2.5 2006 Winter Olympic Games 2.5.1 Torino and the "team pursuit" controversy 2.5.2 Continued rivalry with Hedrick 2.6 Post-Olympics races (2006) 3 Personal records 4 Trivia 5 Notes 6 External links

[edit] Early life

Davis learned to roller skate at the age of two. By the time he was three, he could skate so quickly that he had to be slowed down by the rink's skate guards. At six, Shani switched to ice skating. Shani's mother Cherie worked for a lawyer whose son was an elite level speed skater. At the suggestion of her boss, lawyer and speed skating official Fred Benjamin, Cherie enrolled her son at the Evanston Speed Skating Club. Within two months, Shani was winning regional races in his age groups, earning the admiration of his friends and Northbrook rivals alike.

Determined that her son reach his maximum potential, Cherie would wake Shani up in the mornings to run a mile on a nearby track to build up his endurance. In order to be closer to Shani's skating club, she and Shani moved from Hyde Park to Rogers Park.

[edit] Career

[edit] Junior level competition

At 16, Davis was invited to Lake Placid, New York to participate in a development program for young speed skaters. After training there for a year, Davis decided to pursue his Olympic dreams and moved to Marquette, Mich., to further his training. There, he would graduate from Marquette Senior High School, where he ran track his senior year.

Davis earned spots on both the long track and short track teams at the 1999 junior world championship, simultaneously making the national team. In 2000, he made history by become the first U.S. skater to make the long and short track teams at the Junior World Teams, a feat he would accomplish again in 2001 and 2002.

[edit] Olympic qualification race controversy

In December of 2001, Davis traveled to Utah to race for a spot on the 2002 Winter Olympics short track team. Teammates Apolo Ohno and Rusty Smith already had slots on the six-man team due to points earned from earlier races, and Ron Biondo was a lock for the third spot. In order for Shani to qualify, he would have to win the final race , but would have to beat Ohno and Smith as well. US Team Equipment manager and longtime speedskater Paul Marchese was overheard saying before the race, "Shani could make the Olympic Team if he wins this race. But not today." Ohno had been dominant in the meet to this point winning every race he entered with ease. The 1,000m race would end with Ohno coming in 3rd, Smith 2nd and Davis at the front of the line. Shani's first place finish earned him enough points to move past O'Hare in the final point standings. Shani became the first African-American skater to earn a spot on the team.

However, the victory was short-lived, as rumors began to swirl that Ohno and Smith, both good friends of Davis', intentionally threw the race so that Shani would win. After returning to Colorado Springs, O'Hare would file a formal complaint. For three days, Ohno, Smith and Davis stood before an arbitration panel as three of his fellow skaters testified that they heard Ohno telling Smith that he was going to let Davis win.^[3]

Ohno would later confess that he subconsciously held back for fear of crashing into Davis or Smith, pointing out that he didn't need to win the race because he already had a spot on the team. People asked that if Ohno had really held back, why did he keep passing Ron Biondo (who had finished 3rd at the World Champs a few weeks later in the 500m). The answer to that was that Ohno was holding off Biondo and stopping him from challenging Smith. In order to secure Smith's spot in the 1000m for Salt Lake, he needed to finish ahead of Biondo. This is another violation of the rules of team skating but could not be proven in the arbitration case.

On February 13th, 2002 Sports Illustrated writer Brian Cazeneuve published an article stating that, after reviewing the race, "To this day, there is no concrete proof that any skaters violated the spirit of competition."^[4] Cazeneuve would also publish the comments of Outside Life Network commentators Todd Harris and 1998 Winter Olympian speed skater Eric Flaim, which were made during the broadcast of the race. Both men agreed that Ohno and Smith didn't skate at 100%.

Davis moved back to Marquette Michigan the following season. Wanting to concentrate more on his long track skating and living in a town with no long track, Davis left Marquette and moved to Calgary. Once there, he trained with the 1998 short track gold medalist Derrick Campbell.

[edit] A dream deferred

Upon arriving in Salt Lake City for the 2002 Winter Olympics, Shani was informed that he would not be competing in the games; he was chosen to be an alternate. Davis was not at all thunderstruck as he had only finished sixth in the trials and only four skaters take part in the relay. Davis would leave Utah before the final was held, arriving in Italy in time to compete in the world junior long-track championships. Davis would take first place in the 1,500m relay. Back in Salt Late City, the U.S. men's speed skating team would finish in 4th place. Of his Olympic "debut", Davis said: "I didn't even consider myself an Olympian. One day I was a hero, the next day I was a cheater." .^[5] Nobody had ever accused Davis of being a cheat. O'Hares accusations were directed against Ohno who had blocked Ron Biondo during the race to stop him challenging Rusty Smith and against Smith who had held back from pasing Davis so that Davis would qualify in sixth position ahead of Tommy O'Hare Later that year, Davis would take first in the 1,500 long track race during 2002 Junior Country Match, again in Italy. He would also make the junior world championship team for the third consecutive year - the only U.S. skater to ever make the team three years in a row.

[edit] Turning pro

Davis made the jump from junior competition to men's speed skating in 2003. He became the North American long track champion in February of 2003, qualifying him for the World Championship in Göteborg. Not yet adjusted to skating in the men's division, Davis's scores were much lower than usual, and Davis finished 16th overall.

January of 2004 would find him a North American champion for the second consecutive year. Davis would finish in second place overall in the 2004 World Allround Long Track Championships in Hamar, Norway. In March, Shani won the 1,500m at the Men's World Single Distance Championships in Seoul, finishing the race in 1.48,64 in March of 2004.

Davis set three world records in 2005 - two of them in Salt Lake City, where Davis left the Olympics early three years prior. On January 9, 2005 at the World Championship Qualifier, he broke the 1,500m world record, recording a time of 1:43.33. He also set the world record for best overall time in the history of the Qualifiers - 149.359. A month later, Davis would win the World Champion all-round, scoring 150.778 points. In November, Davis would break another world record at the 2005 Fall World Cup 3, skating the 1000m in 1.07,03. This record is still standing. Davis turned in such fast times during World Cup 3 that he automatically qualified for three Olympic races, allowing him to ^[6] skip the Olympic trials that gave him so much grief in Salt Lake City.

[edit] 2006 Winter Olympic Games

[edit] Torino and the "team pursuit" controversy

Shani's teammate, Chad Hedrick, had a goal to match 1980 Olympian Eric Heiden's unprecedented record of five gold medals won in one Olympic session. Four of Hedrick's races were individual races, but the fifth race was the newest addition to Olympic speed skating - "team pursuit", requiring that Hedrick recruit two other skaters to compete with him.

Since the team pursuit event's inception at the senior level in the 2004-2005 season, Davis had never practiced or participated in the event and U.S. Speedskating never expressed an interest in Davis skating the team pursuit event. In April 2005, U.S. Speedskating voted that it could appoint skaters to the Olympic Pursuit Team who had not otherwise made the team in an individual event. Having never skated the pursuit event, Davis submitted his declaration to U.S. Speedskating informing them of his intention to skate the 1000-m, 1500-m, and 5000-m. On December 31, 2005, U.S. Speedskating named the maximum allotted 5 member team (Boutiette, Hedrick, Leville, Mull, Parra). However, upon arriving in Torino, without Davis' knowledge or consent, the U.S. coaches named Davis as a substitute to the pursuit team. In case of an injury after the team had entered the competition track, substitution would be permitted if an International Skating Union (ISU) Withdrawal Form had been presented to and accepted by the Referee.^[7] There were no such injuries which meant that Davis was not even eligible to skate the team pursuit event at the Olympics.

On Saturday, February 11th, the lineup for Team USA was announced. Hedrick would skate with Clay Mull and Charles Ryan Leveille for the preliminary races, reserving veteran Olympians KC Boutiette and Derek Parra for the finals.^[8] Within hours, articles denouncing Shani as a poor teammate, unpatriotic and selfish were posted on the Internet, hitting the newspapers the next day leaving Davis having to defend himself and make up excuses for not skating an event he was never eligible to skate in the first place while U.S. Speedskating remained silent. Ironically, one of the reasons why Shani said he did not want to skate the pursuit event was so that the two skaters who had not earned spots in any individual event and had been brought to Torino specifically to skate the team pursuit would have a chance to compete - a chance that Davis was denied during the '02 games. "It was a difficult decision for me," Davis said. "Athletes came here just for [team] pursuit. I came here just for the 1,000 meters, the 1,500 meters, the 5,000 meters." ^[9]

Much of the criticism towards Davis was from Hedrick himself. Two days before the official announcement, Hedrick stated, "I don't see what his logic is. We can't be beat if he skates. It's his decision. I'm not going to get in the middle of it. I would like him to be in the pursuit, but am I going to beg him? No."^[10]

Hedrick's dreams of five gold medals came to an abrupt halt on February 17. Switching Parra for Leveille, the United States men's pursuit team was eliminated in the quarterfinals of the competition despite skating the second fastest time of the quarter-final session. Newcomer Leveille crossed the finish line with Hedrick, but K.C. Boutiette failed to keep up with the pace near the end.

As of November 2006, journalists continue to insist that Davis "pulled out," "skipped," "opted out" of the team pursuit,^[11] which is not true since Davis was never really eligible to skate the event at the Olympics. "Shani did not pull out of the team pursuit because Shani never entered the team pursuit event." Tom Cushman, who was the long-track coach in the '06 games, ^[12], adding: "Shani has been done an injustice."

[edit] Continued rivalry with Hedrick

Much hype was made over the 1,500 meter competition, where Davis and Hedrick would skate in the same race for a second time. Davis won the silver, Hedrick won bronze. The gold went to Italian skater Enrico Fabris.

[edit] Post-Olympics races (2006)

Davis won the final 1,000 meter World Cup event of the season at Thialf, Heerenveen with a time of 1:08.91, becoming the first skater to skate below 1:09 in Heerenveen and also winning the overall World Cup on the 1,000 meters. He placed fourth overall in the 1,500 meters World Cup, despite only competing in three of the five races.

Davis then defended his World Allround Championships title in Calgary in March 2006 with a world record allround score of 145.742. At the competition, Davis was paired with rival Chad Hedrick in the 1,500-meter race, and dramatically broke Hedrick's own world record with a time of 1:42.68. Regarding his world allround title, Davis said, "To me, this is bigger than the Olympics. This medal is prestigious. Not only do you have to skate 500 meters, but you have to skate 10,000, you have to skate a 1,500 and a 5,000 and you only have two days to do it."^[13]

[edit] Personal records

Distance	Time	Record
500 m	35.17
1000 m	1:07.03	(Current world record)
1500 m	1:42.32	(Current world record)
5000 m	6:10.23
10000 m	13:05.94
samalog	145.742	(Current world record)

[edit] Trivia

• Shani's father, Reginald Shuck, picked his son's name out of a Swahili dictionary. The English translation is a mixture of "light" and "weight".^[13]

• Shani is slated to finish his undergraduate studies this summer from Northern Michigan University in Marquette, Mich. Shani loves science and wants to become a teacher. ^[14]

• Shani was once next door neighbor of Canadian star and competitor Jeremy Wotherspoon.^[15]

• Shani is a die-hard Chicago White Sox fan, he proudly wore his White Sox cap at the 2006 Olympic Games.

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

• Official Shani Davis Website
• Shani Davis' U.S. Olympic Team bio
• Shani Davis at SkateResults.com]
• Photos of Shani Davis
• "Outside the Lines: Was the Fix In?" Transcript interviewing members of the 2002 Olympic speed skating team

Olympic champions in men's 1000 m speed skating
1976: Peter Mueller | 1980: Eric Heiden | 1984: Gaétan Boucher | 1988: Nikolay Gulyayev | 1992: Olaf Zinke | 1994: Dan Jansen | 1998: Ids Postma | 2002: Gerard van Velde | 2006: Shani Davis

Preceded by Chad Hedrick

Oscar Mathisen Award 2005

Succeeded by Cindy Klassen