Even though he’s swapped the rink for golf courses as of late, retired Olympic speed skater Dan Jansen still had plenty to say to WTMJ’s Steve Scaffidi and Carole Caine about the Winter Olympics.
Jansen now spends his days in North Carolina golfing, working and training other athletes. The Olympic games are only about halfway done, but Jansen still highlighted some star athletes he’s enjoyed watching so far including Nathan Chen, Chloe Kim and Sean White.
As far as how the U.S. team is performing, Jansen said “So far not as well as they [The U.S.] hoped, but there is Brittany Bowe and Joey Mantia who have been the two medal contenders in the 1500.” Naturally, Jansen couldn’t help but boast about Wisconsin’s own Jordan Stolz, the seventeen-year-old speed skater from Kewaskum.
“I’m really excited to see this kid skate,” Jansen said “He’s a phenom – if he doesn’t do it this time, he’ll be around for a long time”
In terms of the fifteen-year-old Russian figure skater, Kamila Valieva, testing positive for performance-enhancing drug trimetazidine, Jansen insists she didn’t plan to take it on her own. “She’s fifteen, she’s not going to be knowingly cheating. If this is the case, then they [Team Russia] gave her things that are illegal and shame on them.”
The U.S. currently sits fifth place in the Winter Olympics with ten medals overall, including four gold. Of the gold medals, two have been awarded for snowboarding, one for figure skating and one for freestyle skating.
