Athlete profile: Cory Carpenter

Posted: Tue February 3, 1998 at 5:00 PM ET

Athlete notes

"When I was six, Santa Claus brought me and my brother our first pair of skates," remembers Carpenter...picking up on Santa's cue, Carpenter's father Paul flooded the backyard so his two sons might enjoy the sport, which he loved when he was a young boy..."The funny thing is, I was terrible when I was little," laughs Cory."If I didn't get last I got second to last"...in 1988 while watching speed skating events on television during the Calgary Olympics, Carpenter decided that he wanted to take the sport a little more seriously..."I saw it and said ‘Wow, I want to do that'"...his parents, realizing that better speed skating opportunities were available in the Wisconsin area, picked up the family and moved...these better opportunities were found in Dianne Holum -- a four-time Olympic medalist and Eric Heiden's esteemed coach -- who for the past eight years has passed on her skating knowledge to Cory..."She taught me what speed skating was," explains Carpenter. "She helped me tune my body and my mind. Most importantly she taught me to train hard and with that hard training came an increase in my self-confidence"...Holum, renowned for her 1,000m and 1,500m, shared some of her secrets with Carpenter who now finds his racing strengths in the same events... "The first couple laps come easy," explains Carpenter who was 14th and 16th in the two 1,000m races at the 1997 World Sprints. "The last lap is where I have had problems in the past but recently I have begun to look at that lap as a challenge instead of getting nervous about it. Dianne has taught me to react, not think and I have definitely seem some improvements"...another thing which may help Carpenter improve on his final lap are the controversial clap skates which have been approved by the International Skating Union...clap skates allow the skater's heel to come up from the blade, allowing for a full range of motion..."Everybody's saying that they hurt the sport but I think they are innovative and give the sport a new twist," explains Carpenter, who set a new American record of 1:11.56 in Calgary in November. "They allow me to capitalize on my technique and they enhance what I already have"...Carpenter's younger brother Kip has also found much success in Santa's sport and is a contender for the Olympic team in short track..."I get my inspiration from my little brother," explains Cory. "In the ‘94-95 season he broke his leg and the doctor said he would probably never skate again. Now when I have a bad practice, I think of what he went through and how happy he was even to walk, let alone skate"...Carpenter has realistic expectations for the future and specifically for the Olympics... "My goal is to skate my perfect race in Nagano. If it is a gold medal or a last-place finish, as long as it was my perfect race. I see myself skating through 2002 and I hope to hit my peak around that time"...his father Tony, a truck driver, mother Sally, a global trainer,and his high school sweetheart Kristen hope to witness that perfect race in Nagano..."I think this team is going to be one of the best," says Carpenter. "We are young, but as a whole we are really strong"...Carpenter is currently taking classes at Carroll College where he majors in business administration...