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Hoping to turn a few heads
Speedskater Jennifer Rodriguez is the American record-holder in the 1,500 and 3,000 meters. The Miami native competed in the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, where she finished fourth in the 3,000 meters. Rodriguez, 24, is now preparing for the 2002 Salt Lake Games. Check out her diary on CNNSI.com as she shares her training experiences.
May 15, 2001
Since this is my first writing I'll assume that most of you don't know who I am...if you do, I'm flattered, but for the sake of clarity I'll start at the beginning. My name is Jennifer Rodriguez. I'm a speedskater. As of this writing I'm in the midst of my summer training, getting ready for the upcoming season and the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City where I'm hoping to turn a few heads. In fact, I plan to win a medal there. Over the course of the next few months I'll be writing here periodically to let you know how it's going. Rest assured there will be ups and downs on the road to Salt Lake...that's fine with me so long as there's a big "up" at Salt Lake.
To tell you a bit about me and how I arrived here...I'm originally from Miami, where I started roller skating at the age of 4. I was invited to a birthday party at the local roller rink and the rest in history. By the age of 5, I was competing in both speed and figure skating (on rollers). I did that for 16 years. During that time, roller speed skating evolved into inlines. I was successful at both disciplines and won world medals in both. Eventually I got an inline sponsor (Rollerblade), where I met my fiancé KC Boutiette. He grew on rollers also but had already made the switch to ice and been successful. In 1996 he convinced me to move to Milwaukee, WI in order to search out my dream of being an Olympian, but on ice. It was a very tough first 2 weeks. I hated everything about it. I hated that I couldn't skate, I hated the cold weather, I hated wearing sweatshirts and pants all the time, but after those first 2 weeks I started to see improvement. So I stuck with it, and got better every weekend and was able to make the 1998 Olympic Team in Nagano. I had great success there considering I had only been skating for a little over a year. Now, I've just begun training with my teammates again to start the 2002 Olympic season. I've definitely had my ups and downs in my short career as a speedskater, but last year I consider a success and I only hope to improve on that. Thanks for taking the time to follow my journey to my goal as an Olympic medalist. -- Jennifer
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