Middle School
Worksheets
Shani Davis, Around the World on Two Blades
By age 27, American speed skater Shani [SHAH-nee] Davis could say that he had sped around the world. He had competed in races on the continents of North America, Europe, and Asia. Those races took place in countries like Canada, Norway, Germany, Russia, China, and Japan. He had gone to the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah, as a relay alternate for the U.S. short track team. He had competed in the 2006 Olympics in Italy, where he won two medals, a gold and a silver. He easily made the U.S. team for the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, Canada.
Davis was born in Chicago in 1982. He was introduced to speed skating at age 6. At age 16, he knew he wanted to compete in the Olympics some day. When he competed in the 2006 Olympics in Torino, Italy, he won gold! That win gave him the distinction of being the first black man to win a gold medal in the Winter Olympics. He is also the first black athlete to win an individual gold. (American Vonetta Flowers was the first black athlete to win a gold medal in the Winter Olympics. She won gold in the bobsled event, a team effort, in 2002. Debi Thomas won a bronze for ladies' singles in figure skating in 1988. She was the first black athlete to win a medal in the Winter Olympics.)
The 2009-10 World Cup season was a spectacular one for Shani Davis. Proving himself to be the fastest man on two blades, Davis won four 1000-meter races and four 1500-meter races. He even broke his own world record, winning his last 1500-meter race with a time of 1:41.04 (that's one minute and 41.04 seconds)! That world record was beaten in December 2017. Davis still holds the world record for the 1000-meter race.
