Posted on 21 Feb 10:37 am
More Eric Heiden
It wasn’t as though I was nervous about winning or losing. It was… I would get nervous about the fact that I was… every time you race, you’re racing against the clock and you got to be able to dig deep and I got nervous about how much suffering and how much it was going to hurt during the race.
-Eric Heiden
I think of the Lyrics to that REM song, “Everybody Hurts“. Tonight is the Men’s Olympic 1500m, arguably the most painful speedskating event there is. The last lap is always agony, even for the best there has ever been.
p.s. thanks to US national team coach Ryan Shimabukuro, who alerted me in the comments that this is probably Dan Immerfall, not Eric Heiden, in this photo from the 1980 games. Thanks Ryan.
Filed under: Quotes
Hey Andrew,
Just so you know, the picture of the US skater racing in Lake Placid against the Japanese skater isn’t Heiden. Eric was never paired with a Japanese skater at those games.
Hey Andrew,
I was pleasantly surprised to find your blog. This is your neighbor, father of Hiro, directly across, with the flagpole! We haven’t seen you for quite some time now and I was really hoping to be able to see you on TV in Italy these past few weeks. I’m really only a casual follower, so I wasn’t sure. Regardless, you are the studliest man on the block. I was very worried when I read your entry on Lilly! Good thing someone found her! Was that at Tanner Park? Lastly, I’m afraid that your wife thinks I’m a putz. It was early (I got up LATE that day!), hadn’t brushed yet and my brain was still coming out of hibernation. Sarcasm didn’t come out quite right. Please tell her Hi and sorry for me too, will you. We haven’t seen you guys for months! Hey, good luck on your endeavors over there and give us a holler when you come back!
ps. Unfortunately, since Lindsay Jacobellis’ unfortunate Silver, the US men’s skating team is probably the biggest news in the olympics. There was even a special on ESPN about the “i” in Olympics last night, with particular emphasis on Shani.
pps. REM Rocks!