Good Luck to All My American Speedskating Friends:

Change does not come easy within an organization like U.S. Speedskating. In fact, I often hear people say that "The only time U.S. Speedskating ever makes changes is after they've had a crappy Olympics." But even if you've been promoting change and hoping desperately for it, how can you wish "a crappy Olympics" on people whom you've gotten to know and like?

The attitude that U.S. Speedskating likes to take is, "Why should we change? We're winning medals, right?" I wish I could explain why the Americans have won so many medals in speedskating, despite having such a small base of athletes to choose from; despite promoting such an unwelcoming atmosphere; despite expecting athletes to take care of so much on their own; despite seemingly going out of their way to hold certain athletes down. I can't come up with the answer. It doesn't make sense.

So it doesn't matter to USS that they spread so much hate and cause people to become disloyal to the organization; that when so many of their former competitors leave the sport, they want nothing further to do with it. I find it unfortunate that the federation itself is so often "rewarded" at the Olympics by the performance of athletes who have done it more DESPITE USS, not THANKS TO.

Are you surprised that I have good things to say about my former teammates? Maybe you have a right to be surprised, from the things I've posted over the last year or so. The truth is, in my writings on U.S. Speedskating and "how evil they are," I did not intend to include the vast majority of these people. In the end, I've come to the conclusion that besides a few "wanna-be big shot administrators," the only people I can't stand are the program director and his favorite girl.

At this time last year, when we were traveling on the World Cups, I really thought Crowe was trying to be nice to everyone, even to me. But throughout the year that followed, when I heard some of the things he said to the press and compared them to his actual decisions about alternative-program athletes; when I started to feel like I had to make a run for the showers or hold my head over the toilet every time he wished me "good luck" before my races; I completely wrote him off for his two-facedness...

...and his favorite girl was just an unpleasant and selfish teammate!

I'm not going to allow my views on these two people to influence my thoughts on the rest of the team. So, here they are:

Shani and Chad: What I like about these two guys is the combination of their talent and strength, with the fact that THEY DON'T TRAIN WITH U.S. SPEEDSKATING PROGRAMS. These guys have the most potential to win medals for the USA. Also, U.S. Speedskating has not treated the two of them very well, and I don't think either one is afraid to admit it.

When I'm disappointed in the way my own speedskating career ended, I start to think, "What U.S. Speedskating really deserved is for me to have been as dominant as Eric Heiden, AND THEN to kick dirt in their faces." Then I realize that even if it wasn't meant to be for me to play this role, then maybe I can count on Chad and Shani to do it instead.

I also hope that Ryan Shimabukuro's sprinter guys do well. They're a good group of guys and let me skate with them after I qualified for the World Cups. Some of them wanted me to make the Olympic Team so much that my friends overheard them talking about one of the other girls on the team, saying, "I hope Eva kicks her ass." It didn't happen, but it was a nice thought.

Ryan deserves success as well; I really think he is a good coach and I'm sorry that in my writing against U.S. Speedskating, there were times when he felt like he was collateral damage in the "dirty bombs" I've been slinging against the federation.

Jen Rodriguez and K.C. Boutiette were great teammates, and I wish them all the success in the world.

I hope Catherine Raney does well, because she has been such a great example of how a skater who has been around for a long time can still make huge improvements; also because she trains outside of USS.

Kristine Holzer has been my friend throughout the years, and I'm so glad she has this chance to experience the Olympics before she gets on with the rest of her life.

Maria Lamb is a very tough young skater, and I'm sure she will do great.

Best of luck to Maggie Crowley, who (along with her family, her coach Nancy Swider-Peltz and her training partner Nancy Jr.) has come so far with so little help from U.S. Speedskating. I'm sure her awesome skating has shocked a lot of people this year.

Chris Witty is definitely a "big event skater." I hope she pulls out some great races in Torino. Some day, I'd like to ask her why she made that unexpected decision to leave U.S. Speedskating and train with the FAST Program this year.

I hope all the American skaters know that anything they achieve at the Olympic Games is THEIR OWN. I hope they realize how little credit the "big shot team-parka-wearing administrators" of U.S. Speedskating can actually claim for the success of their athletes. I hope that the rest of the world will come to see this as well.