By Frank Thomas Feb 18, 2006, 19:53 GMT
Turin, Italy - Shani Davis of the United States became the first black athlete to win an individual gold medal at the Winter Olympics on Saturday when he dominated the 1,000 metres speedskating event at the Turin Games.
Davis beat American team-mate Joey Cheek, the 500m gold medallist, and Dutchman Erben Wennemars for the gold.
Davis, 24, is the first black individual event gold medallist as Vonetta Flowers of the US and Canada's Jarome Iginla needed the help of others in bobsleigh and ice hockey, respectively, in 2002.
'I am pretty happy, in fact I am lost for words. Things came together when they needed to today. I am a lucky guy,' said Davis.
But Davis' victory did not go down well in an American camp still furious that he refused to compete in the team pursuit where they were beaten early on.
'I would rather not speak about Davis because I don't want to have a problem with him. He doesn't say a lot to us. He goes his own way,' said US coach Dan Jansen, who won the event in 1994.
Eric Heiden, the famous five-time gold medallist from 1980 who is now the team doctor, said: 'He is going his own way. He is very different to a lot of speedskaters and we have to respect that. But he is not a team player.'
Cheek was a little more diplomatic and stated the simple facts.
'I can't say for everybody, but for me personally, he is a gold medallist, so you can't argue with that. He is a great skater,' he said.
But Davis insisted he had made the right decision.
'My life is an individual event. I had to qualify for the three races (1,000m, 1,500m, 5,000m) and was then told to race in the team. When I missed the short track team in 2002, I told myself that I would never take the place of another team-mate,' he said.
Davis, who trains on his own mostly in Calgary and only rarely competes in the World Cup, also confirmed that he had skipped the team event on Wednesday and Thursday to be fully fit for the 1,000m where he is the world record holder.
The move paid off for Davis as he took the gold with 1 minute 08.89 seconds. Cheek clocked 1:19.16 for silver and Wennemars got the bronze in 1:09.32 minutes.
Cheek was excited: 'I skated the best I could today, so silver is fine with me. I always said the 1,000 was going to be exciting, and for me as a fan of speedskating, it was as exciting as it can get. Shani gas been unbeatable all year, so it is an honour.'
His win also made it three golds in as many individual men's races for the US team. Chad Hedrick, who had to settle for sixth on Saturday, won the 5,000m and Cheek took the 500m.
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