TURIN, Italy – It wasn’t the five gold medals as he once hoped, but speedskater Chad Hedrick finished his first Olympic Games with an impressive haul: Gold, silver and bronze.
The bigger-than-life Texan, who spent much of the past two weeks sniping with teammate Shani Davis, finished second in the 10,000 meters Friday, running out of gas in his signature event and the final speedskating race at Oval Lingotto.
Bob de Jong of the Netherland’s won the race in 13 minutes, 1.57 seconds, preserving his country’s mastery of the 25-lap race and also vanquishing a dismal performance in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.
“What chaos,” a jubilant de Jong said as his orange-clad countrymen serenaded him from the stands. “Have you ever seen anything like this?”
Carl Verheijen of the Netherlands was third.
De Jong, who was close to dead last in the 5,000 and 10,000 in 2002, wasn’t supposed to be in the mix for gold. That was Hedrick’s territory – he owns the world record of 12:55.11, set on Salt Lake City’s fast ice.
Hedrick started the Olympic Games with a bang, winning gold in the 5,000.
But then racing deteriorated into rancor.
Davis declined to race the team pursuit to concentrate on his two best events, the 1,000 and the 1,500. With Davis, the U.S. team was favored for gold. Without him, it didn’t reach the medal rounds.
Hedrick intimated that Davis wasn’t a team player or patriotic. When Davis won the 1,000 – Hedrick finished sixth, but was leading until Davis raced – the Texan said, “Once Shani beat me, I didn’t care if it was silver or bronze.”
Hedrick did not congratulate Davis on his victory.
Davis was second and Hedrick third in the 1,500, and the two studiously avoided each other.
The tiff was blown out of proportion, said Bart Schouten, Hedrick’s coach.
“These guys bring out the best in each other,” Schouten said. “I think Chad and Shani are fine. Those guys have been talking about training together next year and I hope they do.”
Hedrick didn’t hide his disappointment in losing. He would prove himself in the 10,000, he said.
But de Jong tore up the form sheet.
Racing in the fourth of eight pairings – his times didn’t warrant a better, later pairing – de Jong quickly showed he was in top form. The roar from the Dutch speedskating fans grew as de Jong’s splits showed his speed.
His race done, the skater had to wait.
“It took such a long time,” de Jong said. “I wanted to move around, to jog, to cycle. I had my parents and friends in the crowd, so talking to them helped.”
Hedrick and Verheijen were the last pair.
The Texan went out hard and had the fastest 400 splits through 3,600 meters – at one point cutting two seconds on de Jong’s fastest split. But then Hedrick slowed.
He gave a second to de Jong. Then two.
“Today, I can honestly say I went out there and left it all on the ice,” Hedrick said. “I just didn’t feel fresh. I felt great at the beginning of the race but 12, 15 laps left and I didn’t feel the snap.”
There was a moment when Hedrick flashed his familiar fire. With about 1,600 meters left, Verheijen caught Hedrick. The Texan glared at Verheijen for an instant, then surged ahead.
Schouten called it Hedrick’s “Lance Armstrong moment.”
“I think he took about three or four strokes, looking back through his arm at Carl and I never saw anything like that – he just took off,” Schouten said.
But when Armstrong famously stared down a rival in the Tour de France, he went on to win.
Hedrick couldn’t regain the seconds he’d lost on de Jong.
“My heart’s bigger than anyone else’s out there,” Hedrick said. “If anyone else had felt the way I did out there, they wouldn’t have been on the podium.”
The charismatic skater had hinted that the Turin Olympics might be his last, that he might investigate a new career – perhaps in Hollywood. But on Friday, Hedrick said he had more skating ahead.
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After all, he’s only been speedskating three years, following a hugely successful in-line skating career.
“I do know he’s learned to love the sport,” Schouten said. “When he came over (from in-line), it wasn’t for love of the sport. It was for the gold.”
Hedrick said he planned to compete at the world all-around championships March 18-19 in Calgary – where he’ll likely face Davis again. He will leave Turin with no regrets for what happened or was said off the ice.
On the ice was a different matter.
Hedrick said he had business to finish in four years in Vancouver.
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