Katherine's running away with this. Keep voting through the 14th. Once a day per computer form what I can tell.
Looks to me like it's only one vote per computer - period. It'll let me vote all I want to, but when I look at the results it appears that all subsequent votes aren't being counted in the total. Which, IMO is all the more impressive that she's in the lead by this much. If you haven't voted, please do - 'cause if the figure skating fans start publicizing this, it could be all over but the crying...
"Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, champagne in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out & screaming “WOO HOO what a ride!”
Lori, I think you are right. I voted on my home and my office computer. When I go back and try to vote again the number doesn't change. And it is impressive that Katherine is leading with almost double the votes. Spread the word guys. ST Rules!!!!
Olympic Speed Skater Katherine Reutter Discusses Her Yoga Practice By Ann Pizer, About.com Created: September 28, 2009
Katherine Reutter Photo Courtesy of Katherine Reutter
Katherine Reutter Biography:
Born in 1988, Speed Skater Katherine Reutter is a native of Champaign, IL. Already a veteran of international competition, she is an American Record holder, a US National Champion, and a World Cup Medalist. I was pleased to have the opportunity to ask Katherine Reutter some questions about how her yoga practice complements her training program.
What type of yoga do you do?: I take both hatha1 and vinyasa2 classes.
How often do you practice?: I practice yoga about once a week. During the hardest weeks, I don't have time to go to the studio I like, but I'll do some easy hip openers and meditation at home. During lighter weeks, I try to go to the studio during lunch for a class that doesn't hold the poses for more than a breath or two, but the constant flow gives me energy. There's also a one hour vinyasa class that I find pretty intense so I go there when I'm looking for a tough workout.
How did you first get in to yoga?: I first started yoga when I was a senior in high school. I wanted to get more flexible and stay in shape during the off season so I took a class a few times a week before school. When training started again, I used yoga tapes and TV shows for recovery workouts. Now I go to a yoga studio where the goal is to challenge both the mind and body and I use yoga a lot to put me in the right state of mind [for competition] as well as improving balance, strength, and stamina.
Do you practice at home? If you use videos or audio, what is your favorite?: When I practice at home, I mostly come up with whatever poses I need to work on, try to fit them together as smoothly as possible, and really focus on breathing.
What's your favorite yoga pose?: My favorite yoga pose is the happy baby3/dead bug pose. I prefer to think of a happy baby, but just the fact that it could be either makes me laugh. This pose stretches my groin unlike any other stretch I've found and can be modified by straightening one leg at a time to stretch the hamstrings, and when I draw in my core, it also feels really good on my back.
Why do you do yoga?: I do yoga to strengthen my body in a soothing way. In yoga, the challenge comes from inside yourself, not the level on the bike, weight on the bar, or other competitors. You can push your body using only your mind. I also find that yoga puts me in the right mental state I need to feel relaxed yet connected.
Do you use any yoga techniques to help you prepare for competition?: I'm not sure if this originated in yoga, but I've done it in a few classes. The night before a race, or any time I feel stressed/tight, I lie on my back, close my eyes, and starting with my toes, I contract for a count of ten and then relax. I do this for my calves, quads, glutes, all the way up to the muscles in my face. Then I do a mental scan of my body to see if there are any areas that are still tight and repeat where necessary. When my whole body feels loose, I use the new energy my body has to focus on what I have to do and when I'm done I'm ready for anything. It's a really great way to reallocate energy towards something helpful (focus) instead of stress (tight muscles).
In case you haven't read Katherine's diary she is writing for IlliniHQ.com here is the link to her 4th entry. At the bottom of the 4th entry are links to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd entry. Really interesting getting a first hand view of Katherine's 1000m Gold race in Beijing.
Check out these google alerts. I love Nike's new theme.
Google Blogs Alert for: Katherine Reutter
Nike Women's Training Spring 2010 Media Summit: Day 2 ... By retrogurl Athletes that were in attendance: Snowboard – Ellery Hollingsworth, Hockey – Angela Ruggiero, Skeleton – Katie Uhlaender, Curling – Nicole Joraanstad, Speed Skating – Katherine Reutter, Alpine Ski Racing – Julia Mancuso and Ice Skating ... nitro:licious - fashion, trends,... - www.nitrolicious.com/blog/ Just Did It: My Trip to Vancouver with Nike We watch as athletes Julia Mancuso (Alpine skiing), Ellery Hollingsworth (snowboarding), Keauna McLaughlin (pairs figure skating), and Katherine Reutter (short-track speed skating) show us how they train off the ice. ... DailySpark Blog - www.dailyspark.com/
Post by Laura (Lori) on Oct 16, 2009 10:45:16 GMT -8
The IlliniHQ.com diaries were a good read! With all of Katherine's recent success, I was quite surprised to learn that her Gold in the Beijing 1000M was her first individual gold in international competition - I was not aware of that!
Also - it looks like Katherine won the USOC September Female Athlete of the Month - well-done, fans!
"Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, champagne in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out & screaming “WOO HOO what a ride!”
MONTREAL -- Katherine Reutter of the United States won the women's 1,500 meters at the short track speedskating World Cup event on Saturday, and U.S. star Apolo Anton Ohno took second in the men's 500.
Charles Hamelin of Canada held off Ohno to win the 500 in 41.576 seconds. Ohno finished in 41.807 and fellow American Jeff Simon was third in 41.870.
Earlier, Hamelin won the 1,500, finishing in 2 minutes, 19.220 to edge Si-Bak Sung of South Korea by 0.001 of a second. Travis Jayner of the United States placed third in 2:19.560.
"I think the message is starting to be sent that the Canadians are really strong on pretty much all the distances," said Hamelin, the world-record holder in the 1,000 and a member of Canada's silver-medal winning 5,000 relay team at the Turin Games.
Ohno failed to qualify for the 1,500 final after placing fourth in his semifinal heat. Only the top two skaters advance.
Reutter finished in 2:23.275 seconds to beat Ha-Ri Cho of South Korea. Cho crossed in 2:23.349 and Liu Qiuhong of China was third in 2:23.371.
Wang Meng of China won the women's 500 ahead of Kalyna Roberge of Canada. Zhao Nannan of China was third.
The skaters are working to secure spots in Olympic competition this February in Vancouver. The results from this week will be combined with rankings next weekend in Marquette, Mich.
Colbert Nation citizen Reutter wins speedskating gold November 10, 2009 5:55 PM By Philip Hersh, Chicago Tribune
Katherine Reutter of Champaign became one of the first Colbert Nation citizens to be decorated with gold when she won the 1,500 meters at the short track World Cup in Montreal.
And U.S. Speedskating made $202,000 in the week since Stephen Colbert signed on to have the Colbert Nation become an official sponsor of a federation that was trying to fill a $350,000 hole in its budget.
The whole story - and a video clip of Stephen Colbert mentioning Katherine on his show - can be found at:
Katherine Reutter has been the emerging name of the World Cup season for the U.S. short-track team. She won the 1,500 meters at the world cup in Montreal this past weekend, dashing past world cup leader Lee Eun-byul of Korea. It was her second title of the shortened season. She also reached the final of the 1,000, taking fourth behind three Chinese skaters, and paced the U.S. relay team to a silver, behind China. The World Cup season will continue this weekend in Marquette, Mich., before going on hiatus until after the Olympics.
If you aren't keeping up with Katherine's diary, here ya' go.
Katherine Reutter Diary #5 By Katherine Reutter Sunday, November 15, 2009 8:00 AM CDT E-mail Story Printer-friendly Comments Say hello to Katherine Reutter, a short-track speedskater with gold-medal potential. The Champaign native has been kind enough to give us an inside look at her quest for Olympic glory by writing a monthly diary for The News-Gazette. Her fifth entry:
The Games are creeping closer with fewer than 100 days left until opening ceremonies. With the big day coming up, our sport has gotten more coverage in the past few months than it has had in four years. NBC has bought all the TV rights to our competition, so the only video available of our season so far is on Universal Sports Television or on universalsports.com.
NBC also has been swarming the athletes for in-depth bios. It seems every week that there's a new camera crew complete with audio, lighting, producer, and correspondent. A lot of the coverage has been for Apolo Ohno, but I've been fortunate to have camera crews come out for me a few times, too. All are set to air during the Games. NBC Sports has come to Champaign to get footage of me where I'm most comfortable, at home. And NBC Nightly News has been to the Olympic Trials, Champaign, and Salt Lake City.
In addition, Nike sent a camera crew to Salt Lake City to cover speed skating as a special broadcast on nike.com for its 100-day countdown to the Games.
Given all the attention that athletes get during an Olympic year, people may assume that the life we live is glamorous. Not so! But for a day or two at a time, the media lets me feel (like my story is) important.
The first media event leading up to the Games was an all-day event in West Hollywood, getting lifestyle footage of athletes and what they're like outside of their sport. That was by far the most fun. Hair, make-up, and even assistants to make sure that you and all your stuff got where you needed to be on time. Then a few calls and e-mails between NBC Sports and NBC Nightly News, and before I knew it I had people following my every move at competitions and at home.
It is fun and glamorous, at times. But it always ends with a huge REALITY CHECK! As quickly as it started, you go from people offering to bring you lattes and touch up your make-up to five sets of 30 laps with dryland training right after – and that's just the morning practice! It's taught me over and over again how important it is to define who I am and to be confident enough in that to share my story.
I feel like, so often, blending in with the crowd is the desirable thing to do – especially for young girls who don't know how to draw attention to their talents without being perceived as arrogant.
But I've learned that the best way to be noticed is to do it through your actions. Talk is cheap and looks only go so deep. The way to live a life worthwhile is to define yourself, your goals, and your fears and live your life upholding and overcoming all those things. It is the greatest challenge, but being an athlete where I don't necessarily have a deadline to meet has taught me quickly that it's not always about my results, but the way that I performed (the process).
If I keep working hard, then hopefully my story will continue to be followed and I will continue to represent myself and my country through my actions.
...my apologies to admin. I should be keeping this more current. I'm working on a "compilation report"...soon, I promise. In the meantime enjoy this with thanks to Breidy.
Posted with permission from Beth Reutter to this site only:
Katherine's last three months of skating have resulted in six new World Cup medals, two American records, a third consecutive US National Championship, securing her first Olympic Team birth and a near-miss on a World Record attempt. And as if that wasn't enough - with seventeen (17) career World Cup medals Katherine now holds the largest collection of short track World Cup medals of any woman on the U.S. team, ranking her within the elite of the sport's best-ever-skaters. Katherine will begin the Olympic Games ranked third *overall* in the world, and a world ranking of 2nd in both the 1500m and the 1000m - there's no doubt that Katherine has made herself known as an athlete to watch at the 2010 Winter Olympics!
And it's not just the competition that has taken notice of Katherine...
Stephen Colbert, host of Colbert Report on the Comedy Channel, has become a sponsor of US Speedskating through his Colbert Nation; he has highlighted Katherine on the show twice now, and get this - she's been invited to make a personal appearance on his show! Right now she's scheduled to fly to New York City on December 13th and work with the show on December 14th. We will keep you updated on when the show will actually air. In the meantime - Katherine wore a Colbert Nation cap on the podium at World Cup 4 and created a demand for the cap....Colbert highlights Katherine wearing the cap and announces availability of the cap on his November 19th show:
Nike is an individual sponsor of Katherine and, as noted in a previous email, they named her one of the top 8 U.S. women to watch at the Olympics. NikeFieldReporter made a trip to Salt Lake and did the following video on Katherine for use on Nike's website....
Note: need Quick Time Player (can Google for free download)
And you will have to watch for Katherine in the Rose Bowl Parade - she's being flown out on New Year's Eve to help judge the floats *and* will be in the parade on New Year's Day - Katherine and other Olympians are being featured on a float sponsored by Budweiser.
Katherine has also been writing a monthly diary for our hometown newspaper - The News Gazette; Katherine's November diary is a discussion of her media coverage and how she defines herself. November's diary - along with her other monthly diaries - can be found at::
But as her November Diary states - working with the media is fun, but it ends with a huge REALITY CHECK - she's training, training, training...right up to the Olympics. But don't worry, she will be enjoying some turkey for Thanksgiving; she's been a very good girl this year so no doubt that Santa will be stopping by for Christmas; and we already know that she will be smelling roses while ringing in the start of the New Year!
Jay, Katherine, and I have much to be thankful for this year - your support of Katherine being at the top of our list - thank you!
....and a footnote from me: While the entire USS program benefits from the Colbert promos, Katherine's personal fund raiser is through the sale of the green Rootin for Reutter sweatshirts we see at the competitions. So, if the first cold front of the year is moving into your area and you are in need of an extra sweatshirt, remember Katherine's. I know she would appreciate it. Besides, it's GREEEN, just in time for Christmas!
(you may have to scroll up or down - the link doesn't always kick in at the correct place on the page... )
"Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, champagne in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out & screaming “WOO HOO what a ride!”