A speed skater's edge
Even as a teen at the roller rink her mother co-owned in Orlando, Tiffany Parra could spot a winner. "I didn't love Derek for his medals, because he didn't have that," says Tiffany, now 25, of her husband-to-be, at the time a champion inline speed skater who came to town every spring to compete. "But I do love his legs."
That's fortunate, because it has taken a lot of love, plus even more hard work and sacrifice, on both Tiffany and Derek's part to get him where he is today: proud owner of a pair of Olympic speed skating prizes. (Parra, who turns 32 March 15, took a surprise silver in the 5,000 meters and gold in world-record time at 1,500 meters.) While Derek trained in Utah, Tiffany, a medical transcriptionist, stayed with her parents to save money. During her pregnancy with their first child, Mia—whose birth was induced Dec. 14 so that Derek could fly in—the pair spent only 10 days together. "It shows the strength of their relationship," says Tiffany's mother, Pam Schwier. "I've seen friends split up over a lot less."
But Salt Lake City was well worth it, according to Derek, a Mexican-American who started skating at the local roller rink in his hometown of San Bernardino, Calif. "I think the diversity in these Games shows what we have to offer," says Parra. "Anything can happen in the Olympics—I'm living proof."
Apolo Anton Ohno
The favorite stumbles but still triumphs
He swooped into Salt Lake City, all flowing locks and golden aura. Then came his four events, and the Roller Derby roller coaster that is short-track speed skating showed him for what he was—only human. Instead of a possible four medals, the 19-year-old leader on last season's World Cup circuit would head home with just a pair, one gold, the other silver. And it didn't seem to matter a whit to his fans, who in a Today show poll voted him the most admired Olympic athlete.
What won their hearts? Certainly the Hollywood-ready back story didn't hurt—the headstrong rebel, raised in Seattle as a latch-key kid by his divorced Japanese immigrant dad (hairdresser Yuki Ohno, 57). "When I was younger, I definitely thought my dad was crazy," says Ohno with a smile. "Whatever I did, he wanted me to excel."
Apolo would eventually come around to his father's way of thinking. He arrived at the 1998 Olympic trials as reigning U.S. champ—but failed to make the team. "I think all things happen for a reason," Ohno reflects. "It definitely made me a stronger person."
Certainly it afforded him some perspective on his wild ride in Salt Lake City—his improbable silver, his lucky gold, a disqualification in race 3 and a teammate's random misfortune in race 4, a relay. Win or lose, Apolo seemed to have a handshake for his rivals, a gracious sound bite. "I haven' had that much time to take it all in," says Ohno, who is relaxing in his hometown for a few days before resuming training for the World Championships in April. "If you give 100 percent, that's all you can do."
Vonetta Flowers
A bobsledder by chance, she makes history
It's tough to find a more surprising Salt Lake medalist than Vonetta Flowers. Not because the bobsled pusher became the first black athlete—from any nation—ever to win a gold at a Winter Games, but because until less than two years ago she had never even set foot in a bobsled. "There is no snow in Alabama," explains Flowers, 28, who lives in the Birmingham suburb of Helena. "I was just in the right place at the right time."
In Flowers's case, that proved to be Sacramento in July 2000, where she was competing for a slot in that year's Summer Games as a long jumper. Plagued by knee and ankle injuries, Flowers, a seven-time Ail-American at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, came up short. But her husband, Johnny, spotted a flyer seeking track athletes interested in trying out as pushers for the women's bobsled squad. "I tried out as a joke," says Flowers, recalling the improbable initial steps that would lead her and driver Jill Bakken, 25, to gold in the first Games to offer women's bobsled. "But I performed well and was invited to train."
She worked out under the supervision of her husband—a former UAB sprinter who juggles training her with his job as a manager for Blue Cross and Blue Shield. In the months before the Games, the 5'6" Flowers added 27 lbs. of muscle, mainly through weight lifting. "She is very fast and very strong," says sledmate Bakken. "Usually brakemen are one or the other."
After Flowers's victory she called her father—to share the news and wish him a happy 53rd birthday. "Hopefully this won't be the end," she says. "I hope my win opens some doors for younger African-Americans."
Written by Pam Lambert
Reported by Lorenzo Benet and Cynthia Wang in Los Angeles, Vickie Bane in Colorado Springs and Jeff Truesdell in Orlando
- Contributors:
- Lorenzo Benet,
- Cynthia Wang,
- Vickie Bane,
- Jeff Truesdell.
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