Speedskater Jennifer Rodriguez gives U.S. team a lift
Finally, some good news for the U.S. women's speedskating team.
Call it a blast from the past.
Jennifer Rodriguez, who returned to the sport this season after a two-year retirement, on Saturday won the first individual World Cup medal by a U.S. woman since ... Rodriguez's last World Cup medal on Dec. 9, 2005.
It's not just any medal, either.
Rodriguez won the 1,000 meters in the meet on the 1998 Olympic rink in Nagano, Japan. She followed that Sunday with a fourth-place finish at the same distance.
No U.S. woman had finished higher than fifth in any race last season.
Rodriguez, 32, winner of two Olympic medals in 2002, had hung up her skates after disappointing results at the 2006 Olympics.
"I was totally burned out and overtrained and the thought of skating made me sick to my stomach," she said after qualifying for the 2008-09 World Cup team in September. "It took me about a year-and-a-half to get over it."
Meanwhile, there was more of the same for Olympic champion Shani Davis of Chicago.
Davis won both 1,000-meter races in Nagano, giving him medals in all six 1,000s (three wins) as the World Cup circuit breaks for Christmas.
-- Philip Hersh
Photo: U.S. speedskater Jennifer Rodriguez smiles after winning the women's 1,000-meter race at the Speed Skating World Cup in Nagano, Japan, on Saturday. Credit: Koji Sasahara / Associated Press
