Sunday, February 17, 2002
Spotlight befuddling for Klassen
By GREG Di CRESCE -- Winnipeg Sun
Winnipeg speed skater Cindy Klassen hasn't quite come to terms with her new-found celebrity.
"I was in the elevator with Steve Yzerman. I was talking to him and he congratulated me ... I sort of felt silly because I'm kind of a nobody," said Klassen, who won Canada's first medal of the 2002 Games, a bronze in 3,000 metre long track.
"And after meeting Yzerman, I met Mario Lemieux and Joe Sakic in the cafeteria," said the star-struck speed skater, who tried and failed to make the women's national hockey team in 1998. "You sure do meet some pretty cool people here."
Klassen, 22, of North Kildonan, captured the bronze by skating a personal best last Sunday in her first Olympic race.
"Since then it's been so crazy down here with so much media and I'm trying to train. I'm trying to train and relax," Klassen said.
The Mennonite Brethren Collegiate Institute grad's next race is the 1,000m today at the Utah Olympic Oval and she doesn't anticipate being as uptight as she was before the 3,000m.
Klassen had worked herself up to such an excited pitch prior to the Feb. 10 race, her coaches worried she might burn herself out before even stepping onto the ice.
"I was going out of my mind I was so nervous," she said earlier in the week.
"I just needed to focus ... I don't think there will be a problem (today) because I haven't done well at this distance. I'm just going to enjoy myself."
Klassen's best 1,000m is 1:15.27 seconds.
Meanwhile, teammate Catriona Le May Doan -- who Klassen said "skates like a man" -- holds the Canadian record over 1,000m at 1:14.50.
waiting game: With a week to kill between the 3,000m and 1,000m races, Klassen hit the athlete's village for some fun. "Just a little," she said. "Right after I won the 3K (bronze) I went to the village, but you can't do too much of that. You still have to train."
Klassen, a huge music fan, added that one of her biggest frustrations in Salt Lake City is not being able to attend any of the concerts.
"I really wanted to go see the Bare Naked Ladies ... but, you know, I'd make time to see the Blue Rodeo, they're my favourite band," she said. And her favorite song by Blue Rodeo? Blew It Again.
2002 Games Long Track Speed Skating Coverage
