We've been watching the Olympics all weekend. I love the Olympics! I do remember though, in 1980, realizing sadly that at the age of 11, I was too old to probably ever be in the Olympics. The spotlighted women's sports at the time did not figure prominently around women; teen-age girl gymnasts and figure skaters who had been training every day since the age of 2 were the norm in the Olympics. So, I love the story of Chad Hedrick, who decided four years ago at the age of 24 that he would be an Olympic speed skater although he had never ice skated, and now he is the star of the team. In fact, he won his first gold medal yesterday, in the 5000m race, finishing whole seconds in front of the pack. Of course, Chad was the world champion inline skater at the time, but I never let facts get in the way of a good story. I love how he's from Texas and how he grew up being "the guy whose dad owned the roller rink."
By the way, remember when I said that Houstonians were substance over form people? Chad, who is basically from Houston (Spring) has less-than-perfect form, but a whole lot of substance!
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d8345157d569e200d834a9024b69e2
Links to weblogs that reference The Olympics So Far: Chad Hedrick:
1. Posted by Eric Goldman on February 12, 2006 @ 21:51 | Permalink
If I recall correctly, Geena Davis the actress became an olympic-class archer in her 30s. So maybe it's not too late for you yet! Eric.
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |||
| 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 |
| 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
| 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 |
| 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 |
