Props to Shani Davis

Props to Shani Davis, is the Gold Medal Champ of the 1000m Speed Skating race.
He became the first African-American man to claim an individual gold medal in Winter Olympic history.

(born August 13, 1982 in Chicago, Illinois) is an African-American speedskater who specializes in both short track and long track speedskating and hails as the first Black athlete to win an individual gold medal (in addition to a silver medal) at the 2006 Olympic Games. In short track he was part of the United States Olympic team in the 2002 Winter Olympics. In long track speedskating he became North American champion in 2003, thereby qualifying for the World Championship.

At this championship Davis found out he wasn't yet able to compete with the top skaters from Europe. One year later he did find himself among the very best. A few weeks after achieving his second North American title, he won the silver medal at the World Championship, with only fellow American Chad Hedrick beating him. In March 2003, he convincingly won the 1,500 metres distance at the World Championship in Seoul.

In January 2004, he became the North American champion for the third time in a row. At this championship he broke the 1,500 metres world record, recording a time of 1:43.33. The record was previously held by teammate Derek Parra, who skated 1:43.95 at the 2002 Winter Olympics in the same rink at Salt Lake City. In February 2005, he became the first black speedskater to become World Champion all-round, scoring 150.778 points and beating Chad Hedrick by 0.184 points.



Davis qualified for the 2006 Winter Olympics long track team, but failed to make the short track team; his quest to become the first to compete in both skating disciplines in the same games was made into a TV documentary by NOS shortly before the Games, entitled Dubbel Davis (Double Davis). Once at the Games, Davis did go on to win gold in the 1,000 meters, and was the only skater to record a time below 1:09. Davis' win was historic, as he became the first black athlete to win an individual gold in Winter Games history. Davis also finished seventh at the 5000 metres, nine seconds behind gold medallist Chad Hedrick.

Regarding his decision to opt out of the team pursuit, Davis said, "A lot of these people haven't even skated as long as me. I've been skating since I was 6 years old. And I'll be pretty upset if people got upset about my decisions and what I feel is best for me because, all in all, I know what's best for me. And if I feel that not skating the pursuit will do me better for the 1,000 meters, then I'm going to do it. I worked to get here. None of my teammates helped me get to where I am. I worked hard, and I got myself here."

Davis was criticized for this decision, with teammate Hedrick claiming Davis' presence would have meant "a pretty sure gold", and said Davis' absence was "tough to swallow" for him, despite the fact that Davis had never practiced or signed on with the U.S. pursuit team. 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, as K.C. Boutiette failed to keep up with the pace near the end.

Fellow American speedskater Joey Cheek was publicly supportive of Davis' focus on the 1,000 metres. "I'm actually surprised that people think (Davis not racing the team pursuit) is such a negative thing. Some (reporters) were kind of harsh on him. He hasn't skated one (pursuit event) ever. He was focusing on both short track and long track. To do both would have been incredible."

It should be noted that five-time gold medalist and Olympic-team physician, Eric Heiden, has publicly written that Shani Davis made the right choice in not participating in the team pursuit and thereby not jeopardizing his chances at a gold medal in his best event, the 1,000 meter race.

Davis did go on to win gold in the 1,000 meters, was the only skater to record a time below 1:09 becoming the first Black athlete to win an individual gold medal at the Olympic games. He also won silver in the 1,500 meter competition narrowly beating the time of bronze medalist Chad Hedrick in an exciting race.

Davis is almost completely alienated from the American speed skating program. Davis broke with the American speed skating program when it blocked him from wearing the logo of his personal sponsors on his uniform, insisting he wear only the logos of the team sponsors. Davis refused to comply with this decision, and the association withdrew his funding. He is today almost completely seperated from the American speed skating system, and for the last several years he has lived and trained in Calgary, Canada. He has trained alongside the Canadian team, and for a time he was the next door neighbour of Canadian star Jeremy Wotherspoon