On the eve of the 10-year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, here are two excellent articles with a heavy emphasis on
Derek Parra and his memories from that day - and how it affected his view of the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics (he was one of the athletes chosen to carry the World Trade Center flag during opening ceremonies).
Team USA athletes: Remembering 9/11Amy Rosewater / TeamUSA.org / September 10, 2011
Even before the first question is spoken, Derek Parra already is choking up at the other end of the line.
“I might get emotional here,” he said.
His prediction comes true.
Just thinking about Sept. 11, 2001, is difficult, let alone reliving it in conversation.
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Around this time 10 years ago, Parra was supposed to attend and celebrate a friend’s wedding. He was living and training in Utah but flew to Florida on Sept. 10 to see his then-wife Tiffany, who was pregnant at the time with their first child.
“I woke up the next morning and the world had changed,” Parra said.
He was grounded for a week, spending most of his time watching TV coverage and crying.
"I’m a pretty upbeat person,” he said. “I’ve never been depressed, but I couldn’t stop crying.”
Parra, who was preparing for the most crucial point in his speedskating career, the Salt Lake City 2002 Olympic Winter Games, contemplated quitting right then and there.
“I almost stopped skating,” he said. “I was a little embarrassed that I had put so much of my life into skating around in circles. I was not ashamed, but uncomfortable. When I flew back to Utah, I just wasn’t enthused.”
Upon his return to the rink, his coach had all the skaters hold hands at the finish line. They were standing on the ice where they would be months later at the Olympic Winter Games.
In addition to his training, he also worked at Home Depot, which at the time, partnered with the USOC and hired athletes.
“My co-workers had heard that I might not compete and they would tell me, ‘You gotta’ do this for everyone. You can’t let them stop us.’ ”
By-standers at the rink would echo those thoughts.
“They’d tell me, ‘We’re behind you,’ and I would get very emotional,’ ” Parra said.
Ultimately, he decided that for his two races, the 1500- and 5000-meter events, he would hone his efforts on giving the victims’ families some joy. Even if he were only on the ice for a matter of minutes.
Then on the night before the Opening Ceremony in Salt Lake City, a USOC official notified him that he would be one of the eight athletes to carry in the World Trade Center flag. Even though Parra was scheduled to compete on the first day of Olympic competition, he immediately said he would fulfill that honor.
“The magnitude of that moment would far outweigh anything else that would happen at those Games,” Parra said.
And that included winning gold and silver medals.
Parra recalls virtually every detail of that moment of the Opening Ceremony. Like Eldredge, he, too, was wearing a copper bracelet with the name of a fallen 9/11 rescue worker. And it’s a memento he, too, has kept.
“I remember when the eight of us got there, we were just silent,” Parra said. “When we unfolded the flag, we never said a word to each other. I grabbed the front corner and I noticed we were all kind of rubbing the flag. No one told us to do that.
“We got our cue to go out on stage and officials told us it was going to get really loud. But when we walked in, it was silent and we were all crying. I remember a gust of wind was pulling the flag and we all grabbed it tightly. It was almost as the spirit of the victims were there and they were saying, ‘We’re here with you.’ ”
For him, the flag symbolized a tragedy, but it also became a symbol of “triumph and moving forward.”
Parra didn’t stay for the remainder of the Opening Ceremony as he had to compete the following day.
“I raced back to the dorms and I went to bed,” Parra said. “I realized that night what life was all about. I slept like a baby that night.”
The next day, he competed in the 5000-meter event. He wasn’t predicted to place among the top 10 and Parra said when he watched video of that race he heard the announcers talking about upcoming Olympic events. Apparently, they thought there was no need to pay much attention to his performance.
“All of a sudden, Dan Jansen stops Dan Hicks and said, ‘Hey, Derek is on a world-record pace,’ ” Parra said.
Indeed, he did set a world-record time (6:17.98), which was bested later by Jochem Uytdehaage of the Netherlands. But it was good enough for a silver medal.
In the 1500, it was Parra who beat Uytdehaage for the gold medal.
When they approached the medal podium, Uytdehaage said, “Derek, this is your time, your moment, take your time.”
As Parra saw the American flag being raised when he was on top of the medal podium, he noticed people throughout the crowd singing the national anthem.
“I had a very patriotic feeling throughout the Games,” Parra said.
And he felt that he achieved his ultimate goal, by uplifting fans at a time when they needed something to cheer about.[/img]
Read More:
www.teamusa.org/news/2011/09/10/team-usa-athletes-remebering-9-11/44559?ngb_id=3--------------------------------------
Wildfire shared the following article with me from the Salt Lake City area. It has more of a SLC focus, and reminds me of how worried I was that the games would be a high-profile terror target.
A personal memory from Wildfire:
"As a Utahn having personal experience w/ the Games, I know how much symbolism and hope it gave everyone- not just in UT but around the nation & world."Attacks on 9/11 changed 2002 Winter Olympics for athletes, organizersBy Marc Giauque / ksl.com / September 8th, 2011
SALT LAKE CITY -- The attacks that stunned the world on September 11, 2001 also stunned organizers and athletes of the 2002 Olympics.
Already following the Olympic scandal, the terrorist attacks could have threatened to derail the games once again.
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On that sunny Tuesday morning, Olympic President Mitt Romney was in Washington D.C to lobby for Security funding. Others were in New York City, making preparations to announce the route for the Torch Relay.
They all witnessed the aftermath. Former Olympic COO Fraser Bullock remembers a call from Romney not long after the Pentagon was attacked.
"He had just driven past the Pentagon. Smoke filled his car and then we talked about how in less than five months we were going to host the world," he said.
Later Romney spoke with KSL.
In Florida that morning, Speed Skater Derek Parra, was visiting family. The attack changed everything.
"I almost quit skating. Here we were, months out from the games, but I felt almost ashamed that I was putting so much focus and value on going around in circles when people were pulling their loved ones out of the rubble."
But after meeting with team-mates back in Salt Lake City, he re-focused.
"That day, I think I went home and said, 'you know what? If I do this, it can't be about me,'" Parra said.
Organizers also re-focused. They sought to re-assure teams, sponsors and the public. Millions more were poured into security, and on February 8, President Bush opened the games.
"On behalf of a proud, determined, and grateful nation, I declare open the Games of Salt Lake City," he said.
"I recall very vividly being in the opening ceremonies watching, like the rest of the world, and incomes the flag from the Twin Towers," Bullock said.
Parra was one of eight athletes who carried in the tattered flag.
"What we thought there would be this huge out roar from the 35,000 whatever was in that stadium, it was silent. And it made the moment even more poignant."
He calls the experience one of the most emotional of his life.
"We were holding the flag at the end of the national anthem and a gust of wind came through and it was pulling the flag out of our hands," Parra said. "And, I look around, we were all crying. We all looked at each other and we were all crying. To me, it was the spirits, the spirits of the victims there."
Parra is convinced that moment impacted the rest of the games. Overall, Americans won 34 medals in the games.[/img]
Read more:
www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=17160890Tags: Derek Parra
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