Another American Olympic First

During yesterday’s 1000m speed skating race history was made. With Shani Davis’ gold medal win he became the first African-American athlete to win an individual gold medal at a Winter Olympic Games.

Davis received a lot of grief for backing out of the speed skating team pursuit event in order to focus on his individual events. While he lost some popularity among his speed skating teammates, and it further strained these already tenuous relationships, it did seem to pay off. He can now add gold medalist to his impressive speed skating resume.

Will Davis’ victory spur more African-American youth to put on a pair of ice skates? Only time will tell, but it will definitely be attributable to a true sports hero.