For Cheek, Gold Is the Gift That Keeps On Giving

Gold was on his mind. What good would a gold medal do, after all, when the applause died down?

So, two days before his race, Joey Cheek had coffee with Johann Olav Koss in the Olympic village, an American speedskater and his Norwegian inspiration. Koss won four gold medals in speedskating, then devoted his life to the children of the world.

Cheek did not ask Koss how to win the race. He asked how he could help others if he did.

“He was talking that he wanted to do something big,” Koss said. “I was so humbled to meet such a person. The most important race of his life is coming up in a couple days, and he’s talking about what he can do to give back.”

Cheek did that, within minutes after he’d won the men’s 500-meter race Monday. He announced that he would donate $25,000 so that children in African refugee camps might have a chance to play sports.

“For me to walk away with a gold medal is amazing,” Cheek said, “and the best way to say thanks that I can think of is to help somebody else.”

The $25,000 represents the prize awarded by the U.S. Olympic Committee to all gold medalists. Cheek donated his to Right to Play, the organization led by Koss that provides recreation programs to underprivileged children in 20 countries across Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

Cheek, citing the U.S. government’s finding of genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan, said he wanted to sponsor programs for what he said were 60,000 children forced into neighboring Chad. Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.) wrote last week in the Baltimore Sun that more than 2 million people had been displaced from Darfur over the last two years.

Cheek, who lives in Park City, Utah, also said he would ask his sponsors -- Nike and Oakley -- and “all of the Olympic sponsors that give hundreds of millions of dollars” to match his donation. And, if he wins the 1,000 meters on Saturday, he said he would donate that $25,000 as well.

In the traditional post-competition news conference, gold medalists generally describe the thrill of victory and the agony of previous defeats. But Cheek would not address that lighter side until he had made his announcement, well aware that the world might never again pay attention to him.

“I can take the time to gush about how wonderful I feel,” he said, “or I can use it for something productive.”

In a sport in which every hundredth of a second can be critical, Cheek won with almost laughable ease. He skated each of the two heats in under 35 seconds. No other skater has done so even once.

The margin between Cheek and silver medalist Dmitry Dorofeyev of Russia -- 65 hundredths of a second -- was greater than the margin between Dorofeyev and the ninth-place finisher.

“I don’t know how I skated that fast,” Cheek said.

After the first heat, his lead was so commanding that, he said, “I knew I had to not screw up and I would win.”

Kang-Seok Lee of South Korea won the bronze medal.

American Casey FitzRandolph, who won gold in Salt Lake City, finished 12th, doomed by the momentary slip of a skate.

“It was my own fault,” FitzRandolph said. “I caught the outside edge, and my day was over. That’s sprinting for you.”

Still, Cheek’s victory gave the U.S. consecutive gold medals at 500 meters, last accomplished by West Germany in 1968 and 1972.

Cheek won bronze at Salt Lake City and won the world sprint championship last month, so in no way was his performance an upset. But no matter how good the cause, you could tempt fate by talking about what you might do when you win.

“A little risky, don’t you think?” he said with a smile. “I just wanted to be prepared if the stars aligned. God blessed me.”

His mother, Chris, said she had no idea her son would make such an announcement. His girlfriend, Eleanor Collins, said he had talked about working with Right to Play, but nothing specific.

“I just assumed it would be more like speaking engagements or volunteering his time,” she said. “This is great.”

And, when the two men met for coffee, Koss said he wasn’t sure quite what Cheek meant by “something big.” When a reporter called Monday night and told him the size of the donation, Koss sounded so stunned he had to repeat the figure to believe it.

“Was it $25,000? That’s amazing,” Koss said. “That’s totally fantastic.

“He’s an Olympic speedskater. He doesn’t make money. This is absolutely incredible.”

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Cheek file

Background on U.S. speedskater Joey Cheek, who won the gold medal in the men’s 500-meter race Monday.

* Age: 26 (date of birth: June 22, 1979)

* Place of birth: Greensboro, N.C.

* Career: Began speedskating in 1995, started to focus on sprint racing in 2000.

PREVIOUS OLYMPICS

* Bronze: in 1,000, Salt Lake City, 2002.

* Fourth: in 1,500, Salt Lake City, 2002.

* Sixth: in 500, Salt Lake City, 2002.

WORLD CUP

* Current rank: Second.

* Bronze: in 1,000 at World Single Distance Championships, Berlin, 2003.

* Bronze: in 1,500 at World Single Distance Championships, Berlin, 2003.

* Gold: in sprint combination at World Sprint Championships, Heerenveen, 2006.

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MEDAL WINNERS

MEN’S 500 METERS

GOLD

* Joey Cheek, Greensboro, N.C.

SILVER

* Dmitry Dorofeyev, Russia

BRONZE

* Kang-Seok Lee, South Korea