Summer 2010 - Celski

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THE UNKINDEST CUT
Speedskater J.R. Celski suffered a devastating laceration on his leg just five months before the Winter Games. No problem. He won two medals in Vancouver

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by Chris Mann - Get Active! - Spring/Summer 2010

Birthday: July 17, 1990
Height: 5’8”
Weight: 140 lb
Birthplace: Monterey, Calif.
Hometown: Federal Way, Wash.
Career Highlights: Won the bronze medal in the 1500 meter race and men’s 5000 meter relay in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver; won five medals at the ’09 World Championships in Vienna.

It happened in an instant, like most catastrophic injuries. American speedskater J.R. Celski was rounding a turn during the short track Olympic trials in Marquette, Mich., when he slipped. His legs became tangled, and his razor-sharp skate blade ripped into his left leg. The resulting wound was six inches wide and two inches deep, and required 60 stitches to close it up.

Making the problem worse was that it was September 12 — only five short months before the Winter Games in Vancouver. Celski’s Olympic dream appeared to be over, at least until 2014. Celski had other ideas. Since he had already qualified, the 19-year-old tapped into that eternal Olympic spirit and never gave up. Working with Eric Heiden, MD, the Olympic speedskating legend and current orthopedic surgeon of the U.S. Olympic skating team, Celski persevered. He healed in time to not just compete in the Games but to take two bronze medals.

Now preparing for his first year of college, Celski is hoping to continue his speedskating in the coming years, perhaps for as long as his idol Apolo Ohno, his teammate from Vancouver. In the meantime Celski keeps a photo of his grisly skating wound on his iPhone, if only to remind himself how far he’s traveled to get to the podium.

Get Active: What went through your mind when you cut your leg?

J.R. Celski: My first reaction was, “I’m done. My career’s over.” Then I heard my mom scream up in the stands. The whole rink was silent. I was like, “Oh, God, I just did this right in front of my whole family.” It was kind of four things going through my mind simultaneously: That I failed, that I didn’t reach my goals, that I’m not going to go to the Olympics and that my family just saw me cut my leg open.

GA: Did you think the Olympic dream was over?

JRC: I had a lot of goals going into this season. My goals got dramatically changed after this (injury). I cut myself basically in half. I had to reassess what I wanted to accomplish this year. Once I get back on the ice and strengthen my leg up, my biggest goal will still be to get a gold at the Olympics. It’s a big feat. But I’m usually pretty good when the odds are stacked against me. I like being the underdog.

GA: Are the comparisons to Apolo Ohno new for you?

JRC: No, I’ve been compared to Apolo pretty much my whole skating career. He’s the reason I switched over to ice skating. Our paths are pretty much the same, but I’m a very different person than him when it comes to off the ice. It’s awesome to be compared to such a great athlete. Don’t get me wrong on that. But when personalities are matched, we’re very different —just like everybody else. I try to be myself. I really look up to him in what he’s done with his athletic career, and I’m amazed by the things he’s accomplished.

GA: You’ve actually beat him in races.

JRC: A lot of people would say, “You beat your former idol. How does that feel?” I don’t really look at it like that. Now I look at him like I look at my other competitors. It makes us more competitive with each other, which makes us better on a world level as well.

GA: Like a lot of today’s speedskaters, you started with inline skating.

JRC: My family is a big inline skating family. My dad and I won nationals in the same year. I grew up skating. It was just a fun thing to do. I got more serious about it when I started winning nationals. I dropped soccer and I dropped hockey and I kept skating. I got really serious about it when I moved to California with my older brother when I was 14. I was 12 when I started skating ice—after watching Apolo in the Olympics. My brother was my legal guardian. He watched over me.

GA: How do you train for skating, off-ice?

JRC: Off-season we do a lot of basic training. I’m out there between two to four hours climbing mountains or getting on the bike … just to get our heart rates up and keep them (up) for a long time. We’re in the 90-degree position so long when we’re on the ice, it’s good to do it off the ice during the summer. During the summer (training) is mostly just long, endurance-type stuff. Of course, we do weights us well to keep strength in our legs during off-season. As we gear up for the (competitive) season, it’s more of the fast tempo training, sprints and intervals. We do a lot of consecutive race drills over and over again. We do a lot of running, dry land, biking, weights.

GA: What about the nutritional demands?

JRC: It’s important to keep our calorie intake up—but not like Michael Phelps. I drink a lot of vitamins and green, healthy products like my omega-3 fatty acids, my co-enzyme Q10 and barley leaves. I have to multiply these supplements by three during an injury.

GA: How important was Eric Heiden to your recovery?

JRC: He is one of the greatest speedskaters of all time. This is a very specialized sport. Even in football you don’t get a cut that severs your whole muscle. It’s awesome that I had a guy who knows what he’s doing and has been in my position as a speedskater. It made me confident that he could nurse me back to health.

GA: What are your plans now after the Olympics?

JRC: I’m going to keep doing my thing, and where ever my heart takes me, I’ll follow. I want to go to college for a year and see how that is. I want something to fall back on. Most athletes get in a routine where they lose focus on education. After the sport, it’s like, “What do I do now?”

GA: What’s the best thing about your Olympic experience?

JRC: The coolest thing that happened to me at the Olympics was that I was able to inspire people, and show them that giving up on their goals and dreams is not an option. I am so grateful to be able share my story with people around the world.