As he glides to the cusp of speed skating history, America’s next Olympic darling is at war with his own sport.
Shani Davis smiles big, even laughs, after calling U.S. Speedskating bosses the “enemy.” He trains mainly in Canada with Canadian coaches. He says some people in America “don’t believe in me.”
His mother – who also has served as his agent – is so disillusioned she doesn’t want to go to Turin, because “the Olympics are not what they’re cracked up to be.” When Wheaties came calling recently, offering to put Shani’s face on a cereal box and cut him a $2,500 endorsement check, Cherie Davis scoffed.
“I don’t like Wheaties because for what they want to give you to sign up, well, I’d rather just not sign up. I don’t think $2,500 is worth me thinking about it. It’s not a matter of money, either,” Cherie Davis said. “I don’t have the same feeling about the Olympics anymore.”
Welcome to The Mother of all Olympic stories. As Davis and his mom squabble with the top dogs at U.S. Speedskating to protect, they say, Shani’s rights and his name, Team USA is simultaneously counting on the feisty man from Chicago to pluck as many as five medals at the Winter Games. Amid the tiffs, there’s deep talent.
Davis, 23, owns one world record (1,000 meters) in long-track speed skating and, until this fall, held another (1,500 meters). This year, Davis also grabbed the world all-around title, meaning he was the top overall skater at long-track’s four distances – 500, 1,500, 5,000 and 10,000 meters. The solitary, graceful sport is his baby. Davis likes the peace, likes racing the clock alone. But on the ice, just like in life, he’s ready to rumble.
This week, Davis skates for a slot on the U.S. short-track team at the Olympic trials in Marquette, Mich. Short-track is long-track’s angry little brother, where helmeted men and women bang, bump and barge for position while zooming around a tight oval. Most short-track insiders – even some of those Davis believes have wronged him – predict he’ll make the team. If so, Davis would be the first American to skate both sports at the Olympics.
“It really is two completely different animals,” said long-tracker Kip Carpenter, a 2002 bronze medalist. “Yes, it’s skating. Yes, there are similar muscle groups. But it’s a different feeling (with) different equipment, different strategies. … If anybody can do it, it’s Shani.”
And by splitting his time training for both, it keeps him mentally and physically fresh, Davis said. That gives him a jump-start.
Even in this sunny story line, though, there are bitter edges.
Asked why he’s chasing both Olympic sports, Davis offers a poetic childhood glimpse, recalling the days when he was 7 and the weather would turn cold enough to freeze an outside rink. That’s when he would move from short-track – skated in a hockey barn – to the crisp air of long-track. After that fond memory, Davis gives reason No. 2 for the dual pursuit: “I have options.”
And options are vital, Davis learned, after the turmoil of the 2002 short-track trials. There, fellow skater Tommy O’Hare charged that two of Davis’ short-track pals, Apolo Anton Ohno and Rusty Smith, conspired to fix a race, helping Davis snag the final Olympic roster spot and bumping O’Hare. Later, an arbitrator couldn’t find evidence to support O’Hare’s claim.
The episode further chilled Davis’ opinion of U.S. Speedskating, the governing body of his sport. He felt humiliated and hurt. Thus: options.
“Now, I’m a world champ. Before I was, you know, I didn’t belong on the Olympic team. I didn’t matter. I wasn’t fast enough …” Davis said. “In 2002, I had no say-so. I was ridiculed for my performance at the Olympic trials, and my name was ran through the mud.”
This year, things got even muddier. U.S. Speedskating stopped paying for Davis’ travel after he violated a sponsorship agreement. In brief, Davis wore the logo of his private sponsor, a Dutch bank, instead of a logo for the U.S. Speedskating sponsor, Qwest. Other skaters were warned after breaking the same rule. But Davis chose to keep the Dutch sponsor, DSB, and filed a grievance against U.S. Speedskating. The case is headed to an arbitrator.
“He was warned and given an opportunity to (fix) the problem, and then he continued to violate the agreement,” said Melissa Scott, spokeswoman for U.S. Speedskating.
“We always support him as an athlete. This year, we changed the long-track Olympic trials to a later date (Dec. 27-31) so there’s more time in between short-track and long-track for Shani to have an opportunity to do both. …
“There’s a myth that it’s Shani Davis vs. U.S. Speedskating,” Scott added. “It’s a myth because it really isn’t that at all.”
Responds his mother: “This (DSB deal) was the first contract Shani ever signed, and we’re supposed to give it up? No way. We’ve been struggling all these years and when he gets something, he’s supposed to give it up? No way.”
Indeed, the logo ruckus has reinforced the place and power Cherie Davis holds in her son’s life. She was the one who took him to a Chicago roller-skating rink when he was 2. She was the one who got him into speed skating at age 6, about the time his parents split. She sacrificed Christmas holidays to pay for skating. She coaxed him to build his endurance by running up a landfill hill in Evanston, Ill., dubbed “Mount Trashmore.” And now, she fights the skating powers.
“It’s easy for him because I do the work,” Cherie Davis said. “We go to a grievance hearing, he forgets what the issue is about because he is concentrating on his skating and training.
“He depends on me,” she said, “to cover his back.”
Bill Briggs can be reached at 303-820-1720 or bbriggs@denverpost.com.
