USA's Davis going for Olympic double

MARQUETTE, Mich. — Shani Davis could have stuck with just one sport. But what's the fun in that?

Davis is attempting a historic double leading to the Turin Olympics, hoping to represent the United States in two related but distinctly different events.

There's the traditional, more sedate form of speedskating, where Davis already is a world record holder and a lock to make the U.S. team that will be completed at the national championships in late December.

But Davis wasn't content with that. He'll also try out for speedskating's wild and woolly sidekick when the U.S. short track championships begin Monday at Northern Michigan University.

"I've been doing this since I was a kid," the 23-year-old Davis said. "It's going to be difficult, but the bigger the challenge, the better. It's only going to make me better as a person. Win or lose, I can go away from this experience having learned a valuable lesson."

Apolo Anton Ohno is the leading contender for the U.S. men's team, still one of the world's best short-track skaters nearly four years after his memorable performance at the Salt Lake City Games.

But much of the attention in Michigan's frigid Upper Peninsula will be directed toward Davis — the rare black athlete competing in a winter sport, an outspoken critic of the U.S. speedskating hierarchy, a guy who wants to muscle his way onto not one, but two, Olympic teams.

Those skeptics who say Davis should focus on one sport serve only as motivation for the tall, lanky skater who grew up on Chicago's South Side.

"I don't go on what people say, I go off my heart," Davis said. "My heart tells me to do short track."

He knows it won't be easy to make both Olympics teams. Davis already got a sampling of that when he didn't qualify for the American squad that's been competing on the World Cup circuit this fall.

Despite that setback, he still has a chance to make the Olympics in this free-for-all of a sport where the skaters race each other — not the clock — within the tight confines of a hockey-sized rink.

"It's going to be harder to make the short-track team," Davis conceded. "I already prequalified in a lot of distances for long track. I think I will retain those spots no matter what happens. But in short track, you can't prequalify. You've got to show up for those couple of days and be strong, be in the top five."

Anything goes in short track, as Ohno discovered at the 2002 Olympics. In one event, he claimed a silver medal even though he was taken out by a crash on the final turn, forcing him to crawl across the line with a bloody leg. In another event, he again finished second but was awarded the gold when a South Korean skater was disqualified for an illegal block.