The Olympic Progress Report Continues:

Who is that guy who won the men's 1000 meter long track race today? That's Shani Davis. That's the guy who had to sue his own federation this past season to be allowed into a national team training camp that was funded by the USOC.

Why do people criticize Shani for deciding not to skate the team pursuit because he was focusing on his own events? Excuse me, but Shani does not owe U.S. Speedskating JACK SHIT. Besides, they were trying to keep him out of training camps in the first place, so when would he have had a time to practice with the rest of the pursuit team?

It's bad enough that U.S.S. is going to try to take credit for Shani's gold medal. The only shred of credit that U.S. Speedskating can take for Shani's success is in that part of him that was motivated by his anger against them. This is a federation that has only been trying to hold Shani back and take things away from him.

Joey Cheek took the silver; good for him! It is becoming apparent that Joey is going to be the only male Olympic long track medalist prepared by a U.S. National Team program for the Torino Games.

So far, the medal count per program looks like this:

U.S. Speedskating/ Ryan Shimabukuro: 1 gold, 1 silver (both won by Joey Cheek)

Utah Oval FAST Program: 1 gold (Chad Hedrick)

Calgary: 1 gold (Shani Davis)