18 Feb: The worlds fastest speed skater finally gets his reward

Received from NTB at 18:08.

Hamar (NTB-Robert Gjerde): - Thank God, it is finally over, 
his wife Robin was crying uncontrollably. Dan Jansen 
was unable to utter a word in his life's happiest moment,
but put his arms around his wife and kissed her on the nose.
The worlds fastest speed skater had finally got his long-awaited
Olympic gold medal.

  There is still some justice left in this world. Dan Jansen
was in danger of being remembered as the man who never
succeeded in the moment of truth.

  Now, the American will be counted as one of the great athletes
of winter sports throughout time.

  And Jansen came back with a vengeance. He was one of the 
Olympic games' greatest gold medal favourites, but wound
up a disappointing 8th at his favourite distance of 500
meters on Monday. After seven attempts in four Olympic games
his 4th place from 500 meters in Albertville remained his
best Olympic result - until Friday's 1000 meters in the
Viking ship stadium.

  If the pressure had been too great for him earlier, it was
even greater now, as Jansen has not been dominating the 1000
meters as much as the half distance. Nevertheless, he 
achieved a new world record at 1.12.43 in his last Olympic
start. He has made it crystal clear that he will not be
present at the starting line in the Nagano-Olympics in 1988.

  The family gathered

  - I don't know what to say. It feels just great, especially
because I know what this means to my family, Jansen said with
a noticable lump in his throat.

  In the grandstands, in addition to wife Robin and his son, his
mother and father were present. Mother was dressed in US colors,
while his father had an unmistakably American baseball cap.

  Dan Jansen and family had to wait for more than
an hour to ascertain that the Olympic gold medal was theirs 
for keeps. The American started in the fourth pair, and many
strong skaters went into action later.

  But they all had to lay down their arms against Jansen.
Igor Sjelesovskij from White Russia received the silver medal
at 1.12,73, while Sergej Klevsjenja snapped the bronze at
1.12,85. The two competed already in the first pair.

  Jansens trainer, Peter Muller (Gold winner at 1000 meters in
Innsbruck in 1976, the first time the distance was run in the 
Olympics) has followed the American speed skating ace up and
down through good times and bad. He too fought to control his
voice after the golden performance.

  - I guess good guys win, he said and wiped a tear.


  Jansen scared to death

  However, the 28 year old was close to losing his final chance
at an Olympic gold medal. In the second last turn he touched on
one of the markers, and had his hand on the ice twice.

  - I was scared to death, and thought: Let up, the speed is too 
great.

  Jansen got through the turn in one piece, without loosing
too much momentum. Through the last 200 meters he was quite stiff
but fought like a galley slave towards the finish line.

  1.12,43 is 58 hundreths better than his earlier personal best.

  He has won four out of eight world cup races over a 1000 meters
this season, but only came in fourth at both of the 1000 meter
races during the World Championships in Calgary the last weekend
of January. In the Olympics a 16th place in Sarajevo in 1984
was his best result at this distance.

  Jansen has had 30 world cup victories during his career, and
won the world champion title in 1988 and 1994.

Oslonett AS. and Norsk Telegrambyrå.