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Parra takes a golden turn
American breaks Uytdehaage's new 5,000-meter record
By Jay Evensen
Deseret News Olympic specialist
KEARNS — On the first day of Olympic competition, in the men's 5,000 meter race, American speedskater Derek Parra broke the world record and then had to sit in silence and watch as Dutch skater Jochem Uytdehaage came out 20 minutes later and went even faster.
Tuesday afternoon, the roles were reversed.
Uytdehaage set a world record in the 1,500 meters, but this time he had to wait and watch as Parra, skating to a thunderous roar from fans at the Utah Olympic Oval, beat that time by .62 seconds, becoming the first person ever to go that distance in under one minute, 44 seconds.
But if they are rivals, Parra and Uytdehaage couldn't be more friendly about it.
After his race, Uytdehaage said, "I talked to his (Derek's) coach, Bart Schouten, and he congratulated me and said it's not enough. We were already joking about it before the last pair. It's funny, and it's OK."
For his part, Parra was staring at Uytdehaage's time of 1:44.57 — the first 1,500 ever done in under 1:45 — and thinking, "That is fast.
"For awhile, in the locker room, I thought it couldn't be beat," he said. "But I felt good. I thought, 'Well, he took it from me (in the 5,000), maybe I can take it from him.'"
Parra's time of 1:43.95 made him the first Mexican-American ever to win a gold medal in the Winter Games and capped a six-year odyssey that took him from the top of the in-line skating world to the top of the ice-skating world. His greatest day on ice was made even better by the presence of his wife, Tiffany, who has been in Florida nursing the couple's newborn baby and was unable to be with him during any of his training or competitions.
Afterward, he had trouble controlling his emotions.
"You give up so much, hoping for a moment like this, and then it happens," he said, his voice shaking. As he warmed up, he kept pumping his fists, getting the crowd, already firmly on his side, to cheer. But in all the thousands of faces looking at him, he saw only one — his wife.
"Of all the crowd, I could see her face there," he said. Being away from her had been "the hardest thing. You get tired, you get little injuries. When I turned the lights off at night and would go to bed, it's all I could think about — being with my pregnant wife, and now with my daughter, Mia."
Once the gun sounded, Parra established a world-record pace in his first 200 meters — and never let go.
The bronze medal went to Norway's Andre Sondral, who effectively took it away from American skater Joey Cheek, with whom he was paired. Cheek seemed to tire badly in the final 100 meters.
Sondral had been a favorite in the weeks leading up to the Olympics, but he dislocated both shoulders in two training accidents in the same week. Then he had to battle a fever and stomach problems that surfaced two days ago.
"I felt the world was a bit unfair then," he said. "But there are no medals given for a class of people with two dislocated shoulders. The competition was here and now."
E-MAIL: even@desnews.com
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February 20, 2002
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