Dan Jansen

Who is Dan Jansen? How has he inspired millions of us around the world when we watched him perform with guts and heart in the 1988 Winter Olympics? Maybe you recall the story or maybe you will once you hear it again.

Let's step back four years to the 1984 games. Dan Jansen was America's best hope for speed skating gold. A few years earlier he set the junior world 500 meter speed skating record after his sister, Jane, inspired him to get into skating. He came into the 1984 Olympics with high hopes. He finished sixteenth in the 1000 meter race and a near medal fourth in the 500 meter race. Of course, there is nothing like coming a skate's blade close to standing on the podium to motivate an Olympic athlete to train with heart and gusto for the next four years, and that's what Dan did. He competed and trained at the highest level and came into the games sharp and primed for victory. This was a guy hungry, talented and deserving.

What happened? The day of his first race, in the wee early morning hours, he received word that his sister was on the edge of death with leukemia. He spoke to her but she was unable to respond. Later that morning she died. That evening Dan lined up for the 500 meter race, the race he was touted to win, and race he did, with every fiber of his being, but he never made it. Early in the race he fell and with the fall dashed all hopes for a medal in his best race. A few days later he fell again in the 1000 meters and left with nothing to show for his four years of grueling effort.

In 1992 Dan Jansen returned to race and disappointment struck again as he just missed the podium with another 4th place finish. In the 1000 meter event he placed a disappointing 26th.

In 1994, with his last chance for a medal, Dan placed 8th in the 500 meter race, his best distance, and all but dashed his hopes for any Olympic medal. He had one final race, the 1000 meter event, and in it surprised a lot of people when he set a world record and earned the gold medal he had waited and worked so long for. He dedicated it to his late sister.

Later, his teammates chose him to carry the American flag in the closing ceremonies. In 2004 he was elected in the Olympic Hall of Fame.

Dan Jansen will always represent to me strength in tragedy and dedication to excellence. He's an inspiration. He's my symbol of hope.