I will be posting some more videos on youtube when I'm done going over all of them some from Keith on ice early and some from inline
Looking forward to it!
In the meantime, I forgot to bring this over from the World Short Track Chat thread (originally posted by Gasp). There's a lot about Keith in it and I wanted to get it onto his thread:
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Latin skaters have chilly chance of moving to ice STEPHEN WADE | October 28, 2011 04:12 PM EST |
GUADALAJARA, Mexico — Colombian inline skaters Pedro Causil and Yersy Puello pretty much have only one use for ice: chilling drinks.
Skating on it isn't really an option.
On the other hand, ice could be the future for
Keith Carroll, an American who is making the transition from inline skating to short-track speedskating.
Carroll failed to win a medal on wheels in the Pan American Games, but he has big Olympic dreams.
"The way I look at it, the Olympics are something that is attainable," Carroll said.
Causil and Puello don't have such hopes.
Read the entire article:
www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20111028/pan-frozen-dreams/Tags: Keith Carroll, Jr. / Short Track Speedskating
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They each won two gold medals at the Pan American Games in roller skating, but their next goal can only be more medals in smaller championships with roller sports not in the Olympics.
"What the American guy is doing sounds interesting, but it would be tough finding ice in Colombia," Causil said of Carroll. "We don't have a winter season and there are no rinks."
No Latin American or Caribbean country has ever won a Winter Olympic medal, and only 22 athletes at the 2010 winter Olympics were from the region.
Puello laughed when she was asked about crossing over. She was born in the humid Caribbean port city of Cartagena and has never been on ice. For that matter, neither has Causil.
"I'd be happy to do it, but I think it's impossible," Puello said, sweating under the sun in Guadalajara. "Nobody ever asked me but I would be happy to try. You would probably have to change passports. It would be difficult, but if you really wanted it badly you could do it."
Colombia is probably the world's most powerful nation in inline skating, winning five of the six golds in Guadalajara.
"In skating we have the tradition like the U.S. has in swimming," Causil said.
The move to ice is a natural for the 20-year-old Carroll, who has famous American Olympians to emulate – Apolo Ohno, Chad Hedrick and J.R. Celsk, to name a few.
When Carroll leaves the Pan American Games, he'll change from wheels to blades and race in a short-track speedskating event in Ohio.
Carroll and teammate Jake Powers are among a handful of American inline skaters training on ice in Salt Lake City, hoping to make the jump to ice and Olympic promise.
"Inline is where my heart is," Carroll said. "That's what I've been doing my whole life. If inlining was an Olympic sport, I'd never switch over. It wouldn't even cross my mind."
Carroll, who skated on ice for the first time just four years ago, said he got the inspiration from the 2006 Turin Olympics, where Ohno won gold in short-track and Hedrick got his gold on the larger track at 5,000 meters.
"I was watching lots and lots of people that I watched my whole life growing up skating inline, and they were out there winning Olympic medals," Carroll said.
Even if they aren't quite as fast on ice – at least at the beginning – inliners like Carroll and Powers say they may have an advantage with race tactics, a key in short-track. Inline racing is also more physical, which make short-track seem sedate.
"One bump can sent you to the ground in short-track, but on the other hand there's not as much contact," Carroll explained.
Carroll needs to make a decision soon, perhaps aiming at the 2014 or 2018 Olympics.
"I think I've got a lot of potential on the ice," Carroll said. "I plan on doing both as long as I can but obviously I have to make a choice here in the next few summers if I want to try for the Olympics."
Jorge Reyes of Chile also has little chance of moving to the ice, even though his country has winter sports potential. It's farther south than Colombia, has ski resorts in the towering Andes and cold winters in the south of the country.
Only two countries from the Southern Hemisphere have ever won Winter Olympic medals – New Zealand and Australia.
"We have high mountains and winter-sport possibilities," said Reyes, who won Pan American bronze at 1,000 meters. "We have the raw material, but the country has not taken advantage of it. I would love to compete for an Olympic medal, but we're never going to have the chance."[/img]