Kearns, Utah – Once, the pain propelled her. Trapped in silence, Chris Witty turned skating into an escape. Haunted by the past, she turned training into therapy. Soon, the medals flowed.
Then Witty decided to open up about the molester from next door, the man who ruined her childhood with sexual abuse and convinced her to keep quiet for 25 years. When she divulged the damage last year, Witty finally exhaled. She grew comfortable with teammates, free with herself. The edge vanished. But with it, maybe her last shot at the medals.
Now, as her ice times slip and her hunger wanes, something of a return trip is in order, said her coach, Bart Schouten.
Witty, 30, qualified Saturday to skate the 1,000 meters in Turin – the third distance she clinched at last week’s Olympic long track trials. But she finished the race two seconds off her world record time. Worse, she is talking like an athlete in sunset, scrounging for any spark with three Olympic medals already tucked away back home.
It’s time, Schouten said, for Witty to tap the darkness that privately drove her for so many years, because there is more work to be done. Winning, yes. But even bigger: sharing her story of courage with silent victims around the world.
“I think,” Schouten said, “she needs to reach deep inside herself and still go get that. She needs to realize, once she gets that medal, she has a bigger platform. She could help more people overcome that.
“I think that could be her motivation from here on.”
Boil down the coach’s advice this way: Witty needs to build on the bitter times and blow up all those warm Olympic memories.
“That’s kind of a weird thing,” Witty said. “You want to live off your experiences, you want to remember those race moments.
“But I actually almost want to forget any medal I won before because I want to have that sort of hunger again. …
“I feel more comfortable, and I’m more relaxed with training and skating (since sharing my story). Maybe I could be even faster if I wasn’t so relaxed in training, maybe that’s part of the problem.”
The abuse began when Witty was 4. She was a red-haired, freckle-faced spitfire with dreams of playing for the Harlem Globetrotters. The daughter of a welder, she was a latch-key kid living in the working-class town of West Allis, Wis. The man, in his 60s, lived across the alley; he was a friend of the family with ready access to the Witty home.
It went on for seven years, until Witty saw a school film about sexual abuse. She began to tell him “no.” The man moved on to another girl in the neighborhood. He was caught as a result of those attacks and went to prison in 1996.
As Witty channeled her feelings into sports, she blossomed as an athlete but remained guarded as a person. At the 1998 Winter Games in Nagano, she won silver and bronze in long track. Her off-ice training in a bike seat took her to the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, where she competed in cycling. In Salt Lake, four years ago, Witty won gold in the 1,000 meters.
Each time she met the media in victory, she wanted to reveal the real story. One year ago, she finally told a Salt Lake City journalist everything. All that winning, she says now, gave her the push she needed.
“I was really happy and content with what I had accomplished, but then there was something else that I needed to overcome, like another accomplishment, something I needed to focus on,” Witty said. “If I wanted to do anything else in my life, I had to start there.”
She immediately heard from other sexual abuse survivors who thanked Witty for her candor. It inspired them.
“I might be the only person they’ve ever really shared it with,” Witty said. “So just to have somebody open up and tell me their darkest secrets (is an honor).”
Turin may mark her Olympic farewell, Witty said. She is nursing a pulled muscle. She sometimes feels “sluggish” off the line. She admits it’s “hard to catch the girls who are sort of in a league of their own right now.”
For all those reasons, her coach wants Witty to understand the responsibility of the moment. She still has a chance to change lives, and she is listening. She is grasping for that old feeling.
“If I’m really honest, that’s the hard part,” Witty said. “In order to win a medal, you really have to be kind of desperate.”
U.S. medal prospects
U.S. long trackers are in the thick of a golden men’s generation, while the women seem to be in transition. Here are the skaters who have qualified for Turin at each distance and a projection of their prospects in Italy. Team USA could win nine long track medals, eight by the men, including four gold.
MEN
500 meters: Joey Cheek, Casey FitzRandolph, Tucker Fredricks, Kip Carpenter. Medal prediction: None. Cheek and FitzRandolph, sixth and seventh in the World Cup rankings, respectively, have a shot at the podium.
1,000 meters: Shani Davis, Cheek, FitzRandolph, Chad Hedrick. Medal prediction: Gold, bronze. Davis holds the world record; Cheek and FitzRandolph are fifth and sixth in the World Cup, respectively, and one should sniff bronze.
1,500 meters: Hedrick, Davis, Cheek, Derek Parra. Medal prediction: Gold, silver, bronze. In November, Hedrick took the world record away from Davis. Cheek is 12th and Parra is 13th in World Cup, but Parra, who won gold in 2002, is starting to skate better, giving the Americans a chance to sweep.
5,000 meters: Hedrick, Davis, KC Boutiette: Medal prediction: Gold. Hedrick leads the World Cup standings and believes he is on the cusp of reclaiming his world record at this distance.
10,000 meters: The top 16 finishers from the 5,000 meters in Turin will skate the Olympic 10,000. Medal prediction: Gold. On Saturday, Hedrick set a world record in the distance. He’s only getting stronger.
Team pursuit: Up to five skaters to be named before Jan. 15 for the eight-lap, pack-style race. Medal prediction: Bronze. Hedrick may be the world’s best at longer distances, but the American field is slim after that. Norway and the Netherlands are deeper and Italy may take gold.
WOMEN
500 meters: Jennifer Rodriguez, Elli Ochowicz, Amy Sannes, Chris Witty. Medal prediction: None.
Rodriguez is ranked 14th in the World Cup standings and her best finish on the circuit this season was third.
1,000 meters: Rodriguez, Witty, Sannes, Ochowicz. Medal prediction: Silver. Rodriguez leads the World Cup points and hasn’t finished below third all season, but finished first only once.
1,500 meters: Rodriguez, Witty, Catherine Raney, Maria Lamb. Medal prediction: None. Rodriguez’s best World Cup finish this season is fifth, and no Americans have reached the World Cup podium at this distance.
3,000 meters: Raney, Maggie Crowley. Medal prediction: None. Raney, ninth in the World Cup standings, thinks she has an outside shot at a medal. Canada and Germany rule this distance.
5,000 meters: The top 16 finishers from the 3,000 meters in Turin will skate the Olympic 5,000. Medal prediction: None. Raney finished sixth at this distance during a World Cup race Dec. 3. Canada could sweep.
Team pursuit: Up to five skaters to be named before Jan. 15 for the six-lap, pack-style race. Medal prediction: None. Germany and Canada will win medals. The Japanese are improving fast.
Bill Briggs can be reached at 303-820-1720 or bbriggs@denverpost.com.
