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Fire on ice: Uytdehaage again breaks record, wins
Uytdehaage again breaks record, wins
By Jay Evensen
Deseret News Olympic specialist
Whenever Derek Parra and Jochem Uytdehaage get together, records seem to fall.
In Friday's 10,000-meter long-track speedskating event, however, it was all Uytdehaage. The Dutch skater became the first human ever to go the grueling 25-lap distance in under 13 minutes, finishing with a world record time of 12:58.92 and claiming his second gold medal in these Olympics, to go along with one silver.
Parra, who skated in a pair with Uytdehaage, finished well behind. Although he remained a crowd favorite, his time of 13:33.44 put him in 13th place. It was, however, a personal best for him.
"I held it together for about 6,000 or 7,000 meters," Parra said afterward. "But when he went (ahead), I couldn't go with him. He was on fire today."
The Dutch typically dominate long-distance skating, and this race was no exception. To the delight of the orange-clad Dutch fans sprinkled liberally throughout the Utah Olympic Oval, the silver medal went to Dutch skater Gianni Romme, the man who won the gold in Nagano.
The bronze went to Norway's Lasse Saetre, who skated in the last pair of the day and finished in 13:16.92.
Uytdehaage, who grabbed a Dutch flag with orange balloons on top and ran a victory lap to the cheers of his countrymen, said he wasn't thinking about breaking the world record until he saw his coach holding up a sign with the number 12, meaning he was on pace to finish in under 13 minutes.
"That motivated me," he said. "You want to go better and better."
Romme seemed surprised that his time, 13:10.03 — almost seven full minutes off his old world-record time — ended up being good enough for the silver medal.
"I was not satisfied with my race when it was done," he said. "It hit me — something in my legs or something. When you feel that and you still have to go 15 laps, that's a bad thing. It was a fight today."
On the first day of Olympic competition, Parra shocked the speedskating world by breaking the world record in the 5,000 meters. Later in the day, however, Uytdehaage broke that record to take the gold. In the 1,500 meters a few days later, Uytdehaage broke the world record, only to watch as Parra went even faster to take the gold.
Parra, whose emotional performance made him a hit at these Games, said he was happy to leave Salt Lake with a gold and a silver medal, and plenty of fond memories. He said his favorite of these is "coming over the finish line of the 1,500 and looking up at my wife," as well as the honor of helping to carry in the tattered flag from the World Trade Center at the opening ceremonies. "That set off my whole Olympic experience," he said.
His coach, Bart Schouten, said Parra is "the most gifted athlete, physically and mentally, that I've ever worked with," and said he might be able to compete again in four years, even though he would be 35.
"I don't know any athlete who takes care of his body the way he does," he said.
E-MAIL: even@desnews.com
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February 23, 2002
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