Utah Olympic Oval, Kearns, UT
Thursday, February 6, 2003
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Key to speakers
AAO=Apolo Anton Ohno
AB=Allison Baver
AI=Alex Izykowski
BF=Brigid Farrell
CH=Caroline Hallisey
DG=Derek Gray
KF=Kira Fling
RS=Rusty Smith
SG=Stephen Gough
Alex and Apolo listen to Rusty
Q: What's it like to be competing again in SLC?
AI: This is my first World Cup, and I'm fortunate to be here after Shani Davis [and Misi Toth were unable to compete].
AAO: I've been back here a couple of times in the past year and I'm just looking forward to competing. [rest of AAO's answer unintelligible]
RS: I have pretty much the same comments as Apolo. It's nice to be back, it's nice to be in the U.S. competing. There's a big difference, being in the U.S. with the fans and speaking English all the time... [unintelligible]. I think we have a lot more fun than we do anywhere else. We talked about it the other day. We ran over to the Delta Center and we talked about it. We went back in there one more time. So I think it's really good to be back finally and enjoy ourselves here and have the crowd and remember what it was like a year ago.
Q: What motivates you to keep competing?
RS: I think it's the same thing for me as it would be for anyone who loves what they do. [technical problem, unintelligible, sounds like recorder was dropped into the dishwasher so I missed Derek's and the ladies' responses]
Bridie Farrell speaks at Team USA press conference
Question directed to Stephen Gough as to how the World Cup series works and why Team USA stayed away from the first two World Cups in Asia.
SG: This is the 5th season that we've had a World Cup in short track. Essentially we have six competitions during the season, two in the fall, two in the early part of winter, and two in February. The athletes race a standard competition - 1500m, 500m, 1000m and a relay. You have the option of entering any skaters in each distance. You can enter two skates in the 500, and the subsequent two skaters in a different distance. Our preference for the last few years has been to let the skaters compete a whole meet. There is a certain continuity to be able to go out there each day and skate at a World Championships or a U.S. Championships When you're forced to do all three distances you [unintelligible].
Throughout the course of the season, the four best [World Cup] results out of six [count], so by us not attending the first two World Cups of the season in Asia, we weren't being punished really in any way as far as how the standings will look at the end of the year. The consequences of us not attending those first two World cups were that our skaters had no ranking when we attending World cup #3 and depending on the luck of the draw, some of them were skating in pretty difficult heats…. The other thing right now [with] the relay, any disqualification in the first round is a real harsh penalty. We have to make sure that we're clean this weekend and next weekend [unintelligible but I think has to do with the team qualifying to skate the relay at Worlds in March]. Essentially that's it.
They maintain World Cup standings over 500m, 1000m 1500 m and then an overall. [To be eligible] for the overall [World Cup] standing, you have to compete in all three races in a given World Cup. So if Allison here doesn't race all three distances, she won't be eligible to receive an overall ranking this weekend. It can get a little confusing, but it's actually pretty simple.
The World Cups also serve to qualify the relay team for the World Championships and the team at the World Team Championships [unintelligible] As far as the weekend goes, obviously with the absence of a few countries, we have a chance to do well. We're looking forward to continued good performances on the men's side with Apolo and Rusty [much unintelligible]. On the ladies' side, the ladies are skating better than they were in the fall, they've continued improving as we've gone through the season. We look forward to seeing how they measure up. Obviously with no Korean team here and the Chinese 'B' team, we expect the quality of the Chinese team to be quite high. The situation on the women's side, there will be a different dynamic going on in the race. I think our girls have as good a chance as any of the other countries to compete in the finals and perform well. I'm looking forward to see how they do, obviously it's ... a step. There's still a World Cup next weekend, U.S. Championships, then also the World Championships in March, so this is not the big test for us this season, it's just a little checkpoint along the way. [unintelligible]
Same question Apolo and Rusty had about competing in SLC, directed to Allison and Caroline
AB: We've been here a few times so it's comfortable. Plus I think, not only for us but for every athlete that comes here to compete, there are so many emotions around the Olympics, even Olympic Trials, so [it's a] thrill being here.
CH: Coming back here, I have so many memories set in this town. It just brings them all up when I come back out here. It brings that feeling of confidence back to me. It's a positive feeling.
Q: (to Caroline) As a two-time Olympian, how do you stay motivated?
CH: I don't really know. [laughter] But I've been doing this sport for such a long time and I have such a good group of friends in the skaters I've met along the way, and I've been having a lot of fun. [unintelligible] It's never the same, it's always changing.
Question to Kira, about the keys to a successful relay
KF: [unintelligible] You can go from 4th to 1st on an exchange and vice versa. Basically, the exchange is the key.
Question to Brigid about the home crowd advantage.
BF: I think the home crowd advantage obviously helps us. As we saw with the athletes at the Olympics last year, for example with Caroline, she is an amazing skater, but I think the crowd pushed her higher and she got into the 500 final. [unintelligible - dishwasher syndrome again]
Q: Is it a letdown to be skating over here [at the Oval] instead of over there [at the Delta Center]?
AAO: Personally, I'd love to be back at the Delta Center but this arena is definitely going to be adequate enough. As athletes we come to compete regardless of conditions we can't control. I think we're just happy to be here. This is a World Cup.
RS: I think Apolo stated it best yesterday when we were talking about it. You might only have 2,000 people here, but it will be 2,000 crazy, screaming people that want to see us win. So sometimes that's more important than anything else.
Alex Izykowski, Apolo Ohno, Rusty Smith
Q: What is the difference between [the Oval] and the Delta Center? Is it a dramatic difference?
RS: It is a dramatic difference, I mean [The Delta Center holds] 15,000 people. It's a different environment, it's the Olympics,... it's an event that takes place once every four years... but the ice conditions are the same, you still get announced, you're still trying to win, you're doing everything you'd normally do... [unintelligible].
Q: Many of you set your personal best [times] in Salt Lake City. Why is that, because of the crowds, because of the ice...?
AB: Well I'm sure it's a combination of everything, you train for an Olympic year, last year everything took place here. I'm sure a little bit of it was the crowd, the ice and everything. I think it was a combination.
CH: I agree with Allison, but it was an Olympic year and everyone was peaking that year. That's the year that everyone wants to be on top, hopefully going their fastest that year. The ice is also well taken care of, which definitely helps.
Derek answers a question
OZ Q: The composition of the men's team is going through a change with this World Cup, and there are two very experienced members and two less experienced members. [To Alex and Apolo], how does that affect your preparations for skating in the relay and Stephen, how do you prepare them as a coach?
AAO: Well as far as preparation for the relay, we have Derek who is obviously new and Alex who is really new to the team...pretty much we live day in, day out together and we know everything there is to know about each other. It's pretty much a teaching thing. I'll [show some things] to Alex, Derek is starting to pick it up, and I think it's experience. Nothing substitutes for being out there and racing against the best in the world. No matter how much you teach, you can't get that experience from watching video tape. So I think it's good that we have guys that are new to the World Cup team [unintelligible]. It's going to bring the level of competition of the U.S. up a level.
Apolo is answering my question here
AI: It really helps to [train with] Apolo and Derek every day together and work on our relay... [unintelligible]
SG: Sort of to echo... Apolo is right on the nose. You can't substitute in training what you get during the actual race. That said, the last few years we've had training groups in the U.S. either in Marquette or in Colorado Springs. One of the benefits of having a large training group of 10 athletes, 12, 14... means you can use relays not just in competition but you can use relays as a workout. So that's one way...
We had a great advantage this summer, for six weeks we had a Japanese group that was training with us in Colorado and that was a really great time when we were able to have three or four teams out there at once. The athletes really learn how to deal with the congestion, the traffic that you see when you have four teams exchanging in one straightaway, you've got eight athletes out there, legs are coming apart... It can get a little hairy out there and by trying to replicate that in training as much as possible, it helps. But part of it just comes from getting out there. You can't bring 10,000 or 16,000 people into the training rink [to scream while you practice the relay]... we've got experienced athletes that are helping out the less experienced ones.
I think this has been a great year for us. There are two athletes that are new this weekend, we had Shani Davis who did relays with the World Cup team before Christmas... we're trying to build towards the next [Olympic] Games and try to create a strong program where we can put four guys out there [and it doesn't matter who they are] [because] they can all perform at a high level. The same thing goes for the ladies, we had a high turnover on our women's team this year and we're trying to build for the future and [unintelligible]. We still have some work to do obviously, but we're on the right track.
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