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Fatigue may steal skater's speed
By Maria Titze
Deseret News Olympic specialist
Amy Peterson has good days and bad days. She's banking that Feb. 13, 2002, will be a good day.
The 30-year-old native of Maplewood, Minn., is America's best shot for a medal in the ladies 1,500-meter event Wednesday night — the first night of short-track speedskating at the Delta Center (Salt Lake Ice Center).
"Physically, she's pretty much dialed-in," coach Susan Ellis said after practice Saturday. "But it all depends on where she is with her chronic fatigue (syndrome) on that day."
Peterson, a five-time Olympian and three-time Olympic medalist, has been struggling with the illness for five years.
She faces intense competition from world champions Yang Yang (A) of China and Evgenia Radanova of Bulgaria, as well as a shy Korean teenager named Gi-Hyan Ko, who took the gold in this event at the world qualifiers last October.
American Erin Porter will also skate in the 1,500-meter, an event making its Olympic debut.
In addition to the ladies' competition, the men will skate just the initial heats of the 1,000-meter, and Apolo Anton Ohno — the burgeoning sports celebrity from Seattle — will take the ice for the first time in the 2002 Winter Games.
Although expected to medal, Ohno is the first to admit that in short-track speedskating "anything can happen," and he could go down early.
"You've got to go through prelims, heats, semis, quarters, finals — all before you even get to the final," he said. "If I make one mistake, if I'm a hundredth of a second too late in a pass, then (it's) over."
Spectators will also get their first glimpse at the U.S. men's 5,000-meter relay team, the reigning world champions, during a semifinal race near the end of the evening.
Of the six who qualified for the U.S. team, only four men will race the relay, and no one will know the coaches' selection until the day of the race. "You may have a good idea, but you don't really know from day to day," Ellis said. "We've got to keep everybody's head in the game."
E-mail: mtitze@desnews.com
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February 13, 2002
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