Wotherspoon's legacy tainted
Impressive record hurt by Olympic disappointments
Last Updated: Thursday, February 18, 2010 | 4:05 AM ET
By Mihira Lakshman, CBC Sports
Canadian speedskater Jeremy Wotherspoon finished ninth in the men's 500-metre final Monday at the Vancouver Olympics. (Alex Livesey/Getty Images) It's an unfair consequence of being an Olympian — having your name dragged through the mud when you fail to reach the top of the podium.
It doesn't happen to everyone, but when your resumé contains more gold than Fort Knox, it's safe to say that you're likely to face more scrutiny than others.
Just ask speedskater Jeremy Wotherspoon. Seeking first Olympic victory at the Richmond Oval on Monday, Wotherspoon churned out two mediocre skates — by his standards — in the men's 500-metre race, placing ninth.
And now the 33-year-old from Red Deer, Alta., who has represented at Canada at four Olympic Games, is hearing all about how he can't deliver when it counts the most.
"He should be remembered as one of the greats in the 500 metres," CBC's Mike Dennis said, having covered Wotherspoon throughout his career. "But he will likely be remembered for the Olympic disappointments."
Wotherspoon is still scheduled to compete in Wednesday's 1,000-metre race, but the 500 was undoubtedly his best chance at a medal.
Silver in Nagano
It's not as if Wotherspoon has never tasted Olympic success. Twelve years ago in Nagano, as an Olympic rookie, he claimed a silver medal. So perhaps it's unfair to criticize him for failing to deliver in his fourth and final Olympics.
But Wotherspoon has set the bar high for himself by racking up more World Cup victories than anybody else in history — 67 to be exact.
He has won three 500-metre world titles and holds the world record in the event: 34.03 seconds.
But no Olympic gold in the event that has brought him so much success over the years.
"For a minute there, I was wondering where it went, where my skating went," Wotherspoon said. "I felt good and I felt physically capable, and I was wondering what had changed, why I wasn't the same as I once was.
"Races that felt that way in the past were a lot better."
Better, yes, at the World Cup and world championship level. But, aside from 1998, not at the Olympics.
An unforgettable moment from the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City, when Jeremy Wotherspoon fell to the ice after catching an edge just a couple of strides off the starting line during his 500-metre race. (Asahi Shimbun, Shoma Fujiwaki/Canadian Press Archive) Salt Lake disaster
After dominating the speedskating world in the 500 and 1,000 distances in the 2001 season, Wotherspoon was the clear-cut favourite in the 500 at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games.
But in his marquee event, he fell to the ice after just a few strides —an overly aggressive start causing him to lose his balance, sending his body and his gold-medal dream crashing down while the world watched.
Unfortunately, it wouldn't be the last time a Canadian Olympic favourite would suffer such a spill (see Felicien, Perdita ).
Wotherspoon used the disaster to show Canadians his true character. Despite recording no time in the first of the two 500 races in 2002, he still chose to skate in the second race, knowing he would have no chance at winning a medal.
With nothing to lose, he skated the fastest time of day. But with no tangible reward for his effort, he was starting to get labelled as an athlete who couldn't perform on the world's biggest stage.
It affected the rest of his Games in Salt Lake City. He finished 13th in the 1,000 metres, just one year after he won the world single-distance championship in that distance at the same Salt Lake City oval.
Wotherspoon was a mere shadow of his regular self for the duration of the 2002 Games. His confidence was shot.
He was difficult to talk to. And his Team Canada teammates were often afraid to approach him, fearing they could make it worse.
"He was the overwhelming favourite that year," Dennis recalled. "He lost his confidence for a year [after Salt Lake], then gradually built it back up in the World Cup."
Like comfort food, the World Cup and world championship races went down without a problem for Wotherspoon.
'Mental block' at Olympics
Then it came time for the 2006 Torino Games, a chance to redeem himself for what happened four years earlier. A chance to silence the critics, right?
Cue the ninth- and 11th-place finishes.
"[In Italy], it seemed like he just had a mental block," Dennis said.
In 1998, Wotherspoon seemed to be enjoying racing at the Olympics. But with each future Games, the joy was replaced increasingly by tension — not a helpful trait for a world-class sprinter.
During his race Monday, commentators remarked that Wotherspoon appeared tight down the final stretch, resulting in a slower time.
That tension was supposed to be something Wotherspoon had addressed in the past four years. He had returned to form, winning nine out of 10 races in the 2008 season.
He broke his arm after crashing in a race in December 2009, but worked hard to return to peak Olympic form. And, with all that he had been through over the years, observers suggested he had a new outlook on competing — he was skating for himself, nothing more, nothing less.
"Win or lose, he is the most successful 500-metre skater of all time," American speedskating legend Dan Jansen, now an NBC analyst, told the New York Times.
"To me, he doesn't need an Olympic gold medal to prove that. However, he does deserve one."
With a career record as impressive as Wotherspoon's, the absence of that one piece of hardware sticks out like a sore thumb.
"All our hearts go out to him," Chris Rudge, head of the Canadian Olympic Committee, told the Washington Post.
While it may seem unfair, it's actually the ultimate compliment. So many people believe a speedskater of his quality should have at least one Olympic gold medal in his trophy case.
