Chris Witty

Posted: Wed February 4, 1998

America's best speed skater has a pierced navel, a fondness for playing grunge rock on her electric bass and a desire to own a Harley-Davidson. "I almost bought a Heritage Softail this summer," says 22-year-old Chris Witty. "It was cammed out, had all new pipes, a custom paint job, everything." She sighs. But the Olympics were on the horizon, so Witty passed on the Harley after hearing about an Italian skater who'd had a career-ending motorcycle accident. So how does Witty get around her town? She grins. "I bought an '81 Porsche instead."

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That's Witty—incorrigibly free-spirited and exceedingly flexible. She enters the Winter Olympics as the world-record holder and gold medal favorite at 1,000 meters, and as a contender at 500. Yet she still drives U.S. speed skating program director Nick Thometz to distraction with everything from her indulgence in pizza and ice cream ("Nick says my body is a temple") to her laid-back demeanor ("whatever, man" is a pet phrase). Her realistic ambition of qualifying for the 2000 Summer Games in sprint cycling makes Thometz fret that his skater could crash on a steeply banked cycling oval, but Witty shrugs and says, "Aw, nine times out of 10 a cyclist just loses a little skin on the track—and, O.K., maybe breaks a collarbone."

Whatever.

Growing up in West Allis, Wis., a suburb of Milwaukee, Witty rode dirt bikes and skateboards with her three older brothers, but her first speed skating race was a glimpse of what was to come. Chris, then nine, won by such a big margin that she had already reached her mom in the grandstand when the other kids straggled in.

Today, Witty's talent prompts comparisons to Bonnie Blair, America's last speed skating star. But the two are not much alike. At 5'6" and 160 pounds, Witty is two inches taller than Blair and outweighs her by 20 chiseled pounds. In contrast with Blair's impeccable technique, Witty's skating style is pure power. Both women are what U.S. coach Gerard Kemkers calls "big-race skaters." It's unlikely, though, that Blair would ever be found at the Black Dragon tattoo parlor, as Witty was last year, getting Notre Dame's mascot needled into her hip.

Pressed for something, anything, that she and Blair have in common, Witty offers an answer: They both like TV. "I remember us fighting over the remote once in Europe," Witty says, grinning again. "Bonnie wanted CNN. I like MTV."      

—Johnette Howard

Issue date: February 9, 1998