Canadian Press
December 19, 2001

Klassen aims at different Olympic dream

Her first dream was to go to the Olympics as a member of the national women's hockey team. Cindy Klassen never really took speed skating all that seriously, until she came away from the 1999 world junior championships with a gold and bronze medal.

"I didn't know if I would be a speed skater," Klassen, 22, laughed Wednesday during her off-day at the Canadian Olympic speed skating trials.

"My goal going into the world juniors was not to come dead last. But when I actually made the junior team I thought that maybe I can do something in speed skating. That's what decided for me that I would take it seriously."

Klassen came into the Olympic trials having already qualified to race in the 1,500 and 1,000 metres at the 2002 Winter Games. On Monday, she also qualified for the 3,000 metres.

"The Olympics have been my goal since I was younger," said the red-haired Winnipeg native who now lives in Calgary.

"I wanted to make it in women's hockey but that didn't happen. I'm pretty excited to be actually going."

Coach Moira D'Andrea said Klassen was an unknown when she won the 1,000 metres at the world juniors and was third in the 500.

"I didn't even know who she was," said D'Andrea. "She surprised herself, she surprised all of the coaches, all of the competitors from all over the world. They had never seen her before.

"She was using skating for other sports. I don't think she gave it a lot of consideration to trying out for an Olympic team."

This year, in her third season on the national team, Klassen won a silver medal in the 1,500 metres at a World Cup at The Hague, Netherlands. Earlier this month she was just 3-100ths of a second off the podium at a World Cup in Calgary. She's consistently placed in the top four in the 1,500 and 3,000 metres.

D'Andrea said even though it's Klassen's first Olympics, she is a medal threat.

"She's skating well so anything can happen," said D'Andrea. "She has nothing to lose. Sometimes its easy being the underdog. You can go in, relax, and enjoy the whole experience."

Klassen is looking at the trip to Salt Lake City as a learning experience for 2006.

"I'm pretty nervous but I've got to do the best I can," she said. "Hopefully I'll get used to skating in big meets and against high-calibre skaters."

Klassen was a member of the women's field lacrosse team that played at the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria when lacrosse was a demonstration sport. In 1999 she competed in the in-line skating competition at the Pan-Am Games in Winnipeg and in cycling at last summer's Canada Summer Games.

Klassen began playing hockey as a five-year-old and played for the national junior women's hockey team in 1996. She was a defenceman who liked to throw her five-foot-eight, 150-pound body around.

"I liked to get into fights and stuff," she said with a sparkle in her eye.

She tried out for the national team but was cut. At 18 Klassen decided to try speed skating.

"It was my first year out of high school and I needed another sport to do," she said. "My parents always wanted me to speed skate so I decided to trying it. It worked out all right."

After playing team sports most of her life, Klassen liked speed skating's individuality.

"It's nice to be able to do something for yourself," she said. "You have the support of all the other skaters. But I like if you make a mistake it's your fault. You have to deal with it."

With veterans like Catriona Le May Doan and Susan Auch nearing the end of their careers, Klassen is part of the next wave of Canadian skaters.

"She's so young, she could go for two more Olympics after this," said D'Andrea. "She could skate for 12 more years if she's healthy and enjoying it. She could be on top for a long time."

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