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Chat Reel: Dan Jansen
Preparing for the winter Goodwill Games
Posted: Tuesday February 15, 2000 06:44 PM
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Olympian Dan Jansen will be one of many familiar faces at the inaugural Winter Goodwill Games this week. Chris Cole/Allsport |
CNNSI Host: Hello everyone! Welcome to today's Goodwill Games chat with Olympic medallist Dan Jansen. Hi Dan. Thanks for joining us.
Dan Jansen: Hello everyone. Thanks. It's great to be here.
From Guest: Your story was one of the most memorable in Olympic history... how much of a life-changing event was your gold medal?
Dan Jansen: Well, that's a tough one to answer...
Nobody knows what their life would have been like if something else had happened.
It certainly changed my life in a lot of ways...
Especially when I got home... the recognition factor...
I do a lot of motivational speaking now, and I'm able to share my story.
It's been very exciting. I've been able to meet some terrific people thoughout my travels and my experiences.
From Tom: Hi Dan: Many thanks for being such a terrific inspiration for so many people during your remarkable career. How old were you when you first started skating, and how old were you when you entered your first race?
Dan Jansen: I was four years old when I first put on skates, and I raced at the same age.
I continued racing, at least in the winter time, all throughout my childhood years.
I grew up playing most other sports as well.
From Guest: What will your involvement with the Goodwill Games be?
Dan Jansen: My main involvement is commentating for short track. Speedskating.
I'm one of the co-emcees for the opening celebration.
From Guest: Who are you most looking forward to seeing compete?
Dan Jansen: Well, I'm going to try to see as many other sporting events as I can.
I will certainly try to watch some figure skating. I'd love to see some bobsled.
It's a brand new track here and I saw it a month or so ago.
It's a beautiful facility, and I think it's going to be a fun competition to watch.
From Guest: What was your most memorable moment as a competitor?
Dan Jansen: I would say it would have to be the gold medal in 1994 at the Olympics.
As a competitor, there's a lot of other moments that were great in terms of meeting certain goals of mine.
Being the first person to beat 36 seconds in the 500, that was a great feeling, because they thought no one would be able to do that.
From Guest: What athletes do you admire?
Dan Jansen: I admire mostly athletes that not only get to the top, but who can stay there for a period of time.
It's something when you're at the top and everyone's shooting at you...
Someone like a Jack Nicklaus or a Michael Jordan or a Wayne Gretzky, I have a lot of admiration for.
We can't leave out Eric Heiden... he's in my sport and he was the greatest speedskater ever.
From Ken: How does a competitive speedskater improve their start? Also could you tell me of any off-ice drill that would improve the skating position of a 9 year old boy that is a otherwise excellent speedskater.
Dan Jansen: For the start, a big thing is doing a lot of plyometric jumping... exploding from a stopped position.
Leaping either forward or up-and-down... a lot of one-leg work, squats...
For the position, do a lot of flexibility work, a lot of stretching. Also, everytime you're training both off and on the ice, concentrate on staying low and keeping your butt down.
From Guest: Will you be doing any commentating in Salt Lake City?
Dan Jansen: Yes, I will be calling the long-track races for NBC.
From Guest: Do you continue to skate today?
Dan Jansen: I skate occasionally today.
I'm traveling a lot, so I don't get the opportunity as much, but when I'm in Milwaukee, I try to skate as much as I can.
From Guest: Do you snowboard or ski?
Dan Jansen: Skiing, yes. I ski four or five times a year now. Whenever I get out west to a good skiing area, I enjoy that.
From Guest: Have you ever tried skeleton?
Dan Jansen: *Laughs*
Never tried skeleton, but that's one of the events I like to see at the Goodwill Games.
It's absolutely crazy.
Face-first down the bobsled run at 80 mph, it's crazy.
From Guest: How does the winter Goodwill Games fit in with the Olympics? Is it redundant?
Dan Jansen: No, it's really not.
It's another forum for winter athletes to compete on an international level, in a multi-sport event.
This is a little bit different.
There's prize money involved, yet it's done in a very friendly atmosphere -- not that the Olympics aren't.
But it's the "Goodwill" games, so it's really trying to spread good will and peace.
From Guest: What advice do you have for young people interested in competing at the Olympic level?
Dan Jansen: First and foremost, always have fun at what you're doing.
You certainly have to work very hard to achieve that level, and if you're not having fun, you'll never enjoy the training part of it.
It's a lot of hard work, and it's not always fun to train when it's 90 degrees in the summer time and you're running up a ski hill.
So you've got to enjoy it.
Second piece of advice is to do your best. Not everyone can win the medal, so you just have to go out there and fight as hard as you can.
From Guest: Physical training is one thing, but how important is your mental concentration when you are competing?
Dan Jansen: Once you reach the top level, that means you already have the physical abilities and mental becomes about 70 percent of it.
You have to be confident and believe in yourself...
Go out there and just let it go...
You can't focus on where you are and get nervous, but the ones who can use that to their benefit are the ones who usually win.
CNNSI Host: Thanks for joining us Dan.
Dan Jansen: Thanks, my pleasure!
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