2000 Olympics: Witty adds Summer Games to her resume

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2000 Olympics: Witty adds Summer Games to her resume

Sunday, July 09, 2000

By Lori Shontz, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

After winning a silver medal and a bronze medal in speedskating at the 1998 Olympic Games in Nagano, Japan, Chris Witty decided to make a change: "I tried becoming a cyclist."

DOUBLE PLAY
Other Americans who have made both Winter and Summer Olympic teams:
Connie Carpenter-Phinney: 1972 Winter Games, speedskating; 1984 Summer Games, road cycling
Willie Davenport: 1980 Winter Games, four-man bobsled; 1964, 1968, 1972, 1976 Summer Games, 110-meter hurdles
Eddie Eagen: 1932 Winter Games, four-man bobsled; 1920, 1924 Summer Games, boxing
Willie Gault: 1988 Winter Games, alternate for bobsled; 1980 Summer Games, track and field
Dave Gilman: 1984 Winter Games, luge; 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988 Summer Games, canoe and kayak
Art Longsgo: 1956 Winter Games, speedskating; 1956 Summer Games, road cycling
Arnold Uhrlass: 1960 Winter Games, speedskating; 1964 Summer Games, track cycling
Connie Paraskvein-Young: 1980, 1984 Winter Games, speedskating; 1988, 1992, 1996 Summer Games, track cycling

Understandably so.

Witty, like many speedskaters, rode a bicycle to cross-train because cycling uses most of the same muscles. She cross-trained so well that she won a junior national championship in 1992, her second year as a competitive cyclist, and almost made the 1996 U.S. Olympic cycling team.

She picked up right where she left off in 1998, finishing fourth in the 500-meter time trial at the world cycling championships and just missing a medal.

But she decided because she is still at the peak of her speedskating career and the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics were coming up so fast, she couldn't cycle competitively anymore.

"By the time I came back to the skating season, I was totally burned out," Witty said. "After that, I said there was no way I would come back and try cycling until after Salt Lake."

That feeling lasted a year. Witty returned to cycling competition a few months ago, and Friday afternoon she was named to the U.S. Olympic cycling team. When she competes in the 500-meter time trial in Sydney, she will be the ninth American athlete to compete in both the Summer and Winter Games.

Witty, 25, who hasn't stopped her speedskating training, returned to cycling form quickly. She finished second in the time trial at the Olympic trials, and she finished sixth in a World Cup event in Moscow that included what U.S. sprint Coach Des Dickie called some of the world's better women time-trialers.

"We know that was done with very limited cycling preparation," Dickie said. "I know with the commitment she's made, it's going to be pretty exciting when she gets back on the track. She's a very talented elite athlete, and she knows what it takes to produce world-class results."

Witty didn't know she made the team until a reporter called her at her Park City, Utah, home Friday afternoon. She didn't have time to sit by the phone to get word -- she was in the midst of her speedskating training, doing a weightlifting workout.

"The last couple of weeks I've been focusing on speedskating because I didn't know what was going to happen," she said. "Now I have something to think about. I have to prepare more and more for cycling."

Witty plans to remain in Park City until August, even though there's no velodrome nearby. She and her fellow speedskaters have been building up their base training, she has been riding 50-75 miles three or four times a week.

"But we're going to Calgary for an on-ice camp," she said. "They also have a velodrome. I plan to do my off-ice at the velodrome."

Anyway, both sports are power sports, so she thinks she'll be OK. That's why Witty decided to concentrate on the time trial although she has potential in the match sprint, too.

"For me, the time trial is just safest," she said. "It's just me and the clock. It's what I know best because speedskating's a time trial. It made it easier to swap over from one sport to the other."

Plenty of other athletes have doubled up with the sports, including four other Olympians, including two female medalists.

Connie Carpenter-Phinney finished seventh in the 1,500-meter speedskating in 1972, then won a gold medal in the first Olympic women's road race in 1984. Connie Paraskvein-Young was a member of the 1980 and 1984 speedskating Olympic teams and the 1988, 1992 and 1996 cycling teams. She won a bronze in 1996.

"They seem to use the same muscle groups," Dickie said. "It's not difficult to make the adjustment from the ice to the bicycle -- you're in a low crouch position, using the hamstrings and calves a lot. Cardiovascular-wise, it's the same."

With some improvement on the bike, Witty could become only the second American to medal in both the Winter and Summer Games. Eddie Eagen won a gold medal in boxing at light heavyweight in the 1920 Olympics, then was part of a third-place four-man bobsled team in 1932.

"I'd be the first American woman, so that's a goal," Witty said. "On top of that, it's great training, great experience. I think the more you do big events like this, the more you put yourself in high-pressure situations, the easier it comes."