It's Lonely at the Top

Shani Davis, speed skater, wins the gold medal in the 1000m yesterday. He is the first African American to win a gold medal in any Winter Olympics.

I happened to be up early this morning and became engulfed in the speed skating competition. I haven't been watching theWinter Olympics much and I have never watched a speed skating competition. The competition was fierce. There were 21 competitors, racing in pairs, the 1000m of iced track. It was great. I watched as the likes of China, the Netherlands, theUSA and various other countries competed for the fastest times in order to win the coveted three medals.

I watched as American, Chad Hedrick kept the leading time. The commentators would wonder if anyone would beat his time, as each pair failed to do so. The cameras would then cut to Shani Davis in his warm ups and the commentator began to tell his story. He is the first African American man to qualify for the Winter Olympics (Salt Lake being his first, in which he won a silver medal). They then cut to a feel good piece where Davis and his mother discussed his dedication to the sport as a young child in growing up in Chicago. He was ragged on for playing such an unusual sport and not conforming to the usual sports like, basketball or football.

Conforming is a word unknown to Davis. He seems like a loner. Quiet, and often misunderstood, kind of like myself. I watched as the drama unfolded. There was controversy already and he hadn't even began to skate. Members of Team USA felt shafted because he wouldn't skate on the team pursuit, which is kind of like a relay. He wanted to focus on his own race. He didn't train for the team pursuit. He put all of his energies into skating the 1000m and 1500m(Tuesday) -- and it paid off because dude won the gold by like three-tenths of a second or something.

He was interviewed by this blond haired reporter and preceded to give her short answers without much emotion. He had just made history by being the first African American to win gold in an individual sport and he was "pretty happy about it." The reporter proceeded to ask Davis if he was angry looked surprised when he replied "I'm just at a loss for words."

There's no denying it, Davis is rubbing these people the wrong way. His "teammate, " Hedrick, commented on Davis' winning the gold by saying "He skated fast." Shani and his mom are less than pleased with the speed skating folks. She feels her son was denied opportunities, i.e. marketing , because he is brown in a virtually all white sport. Shani is not the only skater who did not want to compete in the team pursuit, why was he the only one questioned about it? He's trying to make his mark on this sport in his own way. Now since Shani is not reacting and doing what these white folks want him to do, he is a rebel. Like my wise friend Dana said earlier today, "This ain't slavery."