[1795]

Originally Posted by USC_COWBOY

What sport/event?

My sport was Speed Skating, I'm a big guy so I wasn't very good at sprints except for falling in turns and taking out opponents in short track competition. My size/muscle structure was an advantage in the distance events on the long track (400M), 800M, 1500M, 5000M, 10000M.

I dry land trained in the up/down terrain in a arroyo leading up to the famous Rose Bowl near Pasadena CA. One circuit was about 5 miles, I could do a circuit in just under 30 minutes, great for building up leg strength, in the gym I would leg press multiple reps at 750lbs.

My speed skating club (Paramount Rink) was built by Zamboni, the company that built all the ice-surfacing equipment/machines. Two of my speed skating team mates Bill Disney and Stan Fail both medaled, I could beat them periodically but I was not consistent, so that eliminated me during the trials/qualification competitions.

Great memories!

Yes it was fun. I was able to stay at the Olympic Training Complex in Lake Placid. My sport was Nordic Skiing, but I was a late bloomer to it. They did not have cross country skiing programs in school or where I went to college. Did not start cross country skiing until my senior year under grad. My skill level was not there, and I knew it, but hoped that my athletic skills would impress them and they would take me on as a developmental project. I was fast both in sprints and distance and at 5' 10" could get above a basketball rim. It was a wonderful experience that I will always cherish. Would not have mattered if I did make the team, the USSR had invaded Afghanistan a few months prior to the winter olympics and the olympics were in Russia, so the US boycotted them.