Was disappointed to learn that Shani Davis is not going to attempt to match Eric Heiden's feat of winning five Olympic gold medals in speedskating in a single Olympic games.Davis decided to drop out of the 10,000 meters before the January 17 deadline to submit final entries to the International Skating Federation. His 10,000m slot will be filled by Jonathan Kuck.
Guy Thibault, the high-performance director at U.S. Speedskating stated "I'm sure Shani knew already that doing all five was a big thing. That was a big task to do,'' "He didn't want to close any doors, so he could see how things were going in training, before he decided he needs to cut one.
"I want Shani to be the best at what he does,'' Thibault said. "I would rather him focus on the distances he can do something in, instead of getting silver and skating everything.Even though he's no longer competing in the 10,000m, he's still going to be a busy man in Vancouver. As the reining world champion in the 1000 and 1500 meters he's a favorite to win gold in the 1000 and 1500 and is considered an outside medal contender in the 500 and 5000.
And Shani's busy week in Vancouver starts Saturday with the 5000m.