A Champion In More Ways Than One

Americas true colors have been put on blast on an international stage, with a media fueled feud between two American competitors, Shani Davis and Chad Hedrick. I have to admit that I am angry as hell at the bad rap Shani Davis is getting from the press and from narrow minded, ignorant, racist Americans who are trying to steal the glory and the major achievement attained by Shani Davis. Davis will always be known for being the first Black to ever win a gold medal in an individual event in the winter Olympics. This achievement will long outlast the controversy and the attempts to assassinate Davis's character by racist bigots.

I had never heard of Shani Davis until Sunday evening when I was watching the news and I began catching wind of his major accomplishment and then the controversy surrounding his decision not to participate in the team pursuit. Most of the animosity for Davis' decision to not participate in the team pursuit seemed to come from Chad Hedrick who went complaining to the media that Davis isn't a team player because he chose to compete only in individual events and refused to participate in the team pursuit. The media played the discord between these two up and the media frenzy began and along with that frenzy came the racists, the bigots and the haters.

There are a few things that upset me about how Davis's accomplishments have been handled. First, this controversy seems to have overshadowed the real accomplishment of Davis being the first Black to win gold in an individual competition AND the simple fact that an AMERICAN won an event for AMERICA. Though some White people may not see this as a big deal, Blacks won't allow racism and small mindedness to diminish this achievement in our eyes.

Second, it seems that the American coaches should have handled this situation better and not allowed the tension between two American's in the same events to be put on public display like that. From what I've seen, Hedrick was the one who spewed the most animosity throughout this controversy and he should have handled himself more professionally.

Third, this controversy provided yet another example of the racial tensions that still exist in our country. If you take a visit to Shani Davis's website (if you can get on it, because it is sometimes too busy to access), you'll see hate messages toward Shani, name calling and even folks who hoped that he would fall or have some kind of mishap during his 1500 meter competition, because God forbid he beat out a White man in a sport that up until now, as far as Americans go, was dominated by Whites in the Olympics. There are folks on his website saying how unamerican Davis is and how selfish he is to not help out the "team" and saying how he didn't look grateful to win the gold medal, bla, bla, bla. My thought is "so what he doesn't want to compete in a team competition, he's still competing for America" (AKA: Amerikkka, depending on how you view this country).

For me, Davis is a true champion, because a man's success goes beyond what he does as a profession, whether he be a sports figure, a politician or a garbage man. To me it's about what you give back to society and living your life with humility and integrity. From what I have read and seen, Davis exemplifies this. He has a passion for youth development and spends a lot of time talking at highschools, and helping kids to identify and reach their potential. To me this is a true champion. It burned me a little to see how much credit was given to that one American Gold Medalist who donated the money he won to charity, but yet similar credit has not been given to Davis for the amount of ongoing work he has done with young people long before this Olympic competition started and I'm sure his work will last long beyond this Olympic competition in Torino. If the best that haters can do is pick him apart for simply not wanting to participate in a team pursuit, then to hell with them, because what Davis has to offer goes well beyond an Olympic competition.

Last night after NBC showed the 1500 meter race, they showed a small clip of the post-race press conference where Davis and Hedrick spoke. They were seated at the opposite ends of the table and didn't really look at each other while the clip played. At one point they were asked if they had any last words and Davis spoke up and said something to the effect of how he wished that Hedrick would have congratulated him on winning the gold in the 1000 meter, like Davis did to Hedrick when Hedrick beat him out for the 5000 meter. Hedrick obviously felt put on the spot and after several awkward seconds with him drinking water profusely, like he hadn't drank any in days, then standing up awkwardly, drinking more water, then he finally sat back down and stumbled out a few words. You could tell he was nervous as hell as he repeated the same tired defense of still being upset with Davis for not participating in the team pursuit and how Davis wouldn't talk with him about this decision. What I really think is that Hedrick is still pissed that one, his ego was bruised because he at best will only be able to walk away with 2 gold medals, instead of the 5 that people hyped him up to be the contender for; two, that Davis beat him in two of the events Hedrick was favored to win; and three that he got beat out by a Black man in a sport that HAD been dominated by Whites.

I have to admit I was happy when Davis beat Hedrick out to take the silver in the 1500 meter. It's sad that racism continues to be an issue in America, especially when we have achieved a great milestone in history. I really doubt that if a White teammate would have opted out of participating in the team pursuit event that he would have been put on blast like Davis was and have his individual accomplishments demeaned and picked apart like Davis has had to endure. But Davis has had to deal with adversity all his life, being a young Black man growing up in Chicago who had a passion for speedskating, a predominately White sport. As a result he has learned how to deal with criticism and ostracism all his life. To me Shani Davis is a hero in more ways than one, and many can learn lessons from him, because he has chosen to take the road less traveled and in my book that gets much respect, even more so than winning a gold and silver medal!