I have returned from Casey's third Olympics and once again the unexpected has happened. The Olympics are truly a sporting event that creates heroes, takes prisoners and is full of both pleasant and not so pleasant surprises.
Many of you who have followed Casey's career through my eyes, have noticed that my emails since the Winter Games of 2002 had always carried a "tag" that I thought was very appropriate in light of his success in Salt Lake City. How ironic that the same statement now has a multiple meaning that I never would have considered before the games of Torino.
My tag has read: "Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away." Salt Lake City was one of those moments....when Casey crossed the finish line in the second 500M race it was truly a moment that can never be replaced in my lifetime. And now, Torino...and the moment he slipped in the first 100 meters of his first 500 will be etched in my memory also. You see, the 500M race is simply too short to make up for such misfortune and the mishap compounds itself throughout the race because you never regain the speed you've lost. I knew in that moment when I saw the slip that any hope of repeating was gone. Both moments took my breath away...but in very different ways. ABC's Wide World of Sport used to always start the show with the statement: "The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat". Over three Olympics we have experienced both and I don't need to tell anyone which is the most invigorating result.
But life goes on...and the pride I feel in my son, as an athlete, a person and my best friend has not changed. I am thrilled that he and wife Jennifer have made the decision to return home to the Madison area as of April 1st. It will give Ruthie and me the opportunity to share more time with our loved ones. And, it will give many of you the chance to visit with him about his very special experiences as an Olympian.
Will he skate again? At 31 years of age, he's not too old to consider competing in Vancouver in 2010. I'm sure that if the games were in Europe or Asia he wouldn't even consider it, but North America is a plus. But his priority now is for he and Jenn to start their family and to enjoy the next year taking time for himself doing what he loves most, fishing and hunting. He is 95% sure he will retire from competitive skating, but he has left a crack in the door.
Torino was a very interesting experience and the Italians have a very different lifestyle. Adjusting to it was sometimes challenging as we made our way through our latest Olympic experience. Over the next couple of weeks I will be adding a slide show consisting of some of the awesome photographs our "Fitz Pack" took during the Games. And of course there were those darn controversial athletes who won medals....believe me, I do have an opinion I'm willing to share on some of them, so watch for future posts.
