Wednesday, February 20, 2002
Pain no barrier to Klassen
By GREG Di CRESCE -- Winnipeg Sun
No pain, no gain.
Today, Winnipeg speed skater Cindy Klassen races into 1,500 metres of pain as the country's best hope of winning a medal over that distance.
"Sometimes I'm scared of the pain ... you just can't go out way too hard in this race, if you do you'll start skating into the pain early and it'll show," Klassen said as she looked forward to besting her Canadian record of 1:55.08 in the 1,500m event.
Coach Moira D'Andrea isn't concerned with whether her star pupil can handle the pain, but emphasized that the 1,500m is certainly not a race for the meek.
"Cindy's not afraid to hurt. Still, if you mentally can't handle the pain, if mentally you don't want to hurt then you're not going to be there in this race," D'Andrea said. "And I expect Cindy to be there, especially since everything she's been doing of late has been going in one direction -- straight up."
The 22-year-old Klassen kicked off her first Olympics by capturing a bronze medal after skating a personal best in the 3,000m. The North Kildonan resident went on to skate another personal best in the 1,000m a week later.
Klassen enters today's race ranked No. 2 in the World Cup circuit over 1,500m.
"What's gotten her there is that she takes her 1,500m out hard and doesn't let up," D'Andrea said. "She still has a lot to learn about form and understanding how her own body reacts to this sport, but one thing is clear she's very strong and very driven."
On the latter point, Klassen's father Jake was in full agreement.
And regarding his daughter's ability to handle pain, the senior Klassen had this take: "Pain bother Cindy? She was born in pain. The first three months of her life were a nightmare for us, she was just so colicky. Maybe going through so much pain early in her life helped raise her pain threshold. Who knows, that may help to explain why she can do what she does today."
BUMPED:
A collision with a Japanese speed skater may have cost Cindy Klassen a top-10 finish in the 1,000m event on Sunday.
Klassen, who finished in 13th place with a personal best, was bumped by Japan's Maki Tabata during a crossover. The refs disqualified Tabata and offered Klassen a re-skate. The Winnipegger declined. Both Klassen and her coach saw no advantage in repeating the race. The 22-year-old skater had entered the race primarily as a warm up for today's 1,500m event in which she's a medal favourite.
NO BULLARD:
Canadian talk show host Mike Bullard attempted to woo Klassen north for a show shortly after the Winnipegger was awarded the country's first medal.
Klassen declined with three more races to go. However, the Mennonite Brethren Collegiate Institute grad is expected to go on the show Open Mike at the conclusion of the Games.
2002 Games Long Track Speed Skating Coverage
