Countdown to the Winter Olympics / Lillehammer ’94 : But Can They Forget? : Whether Good Times or Sad, Blair and Jansen Ignoring Past

Another Winter Olympics, another gold medal or two for Bonnie Blair? Another Winter Olympics, another 16 days of despair for Dan Jansen?

History leads us to wonder if that again will be the theme for U.S. speedskaters in the competition at Hamar’s Olympic Hall, a unique indoor arena designed to resemble an overturned Viking ship.

But although their Olympic moments could not be more different, both Blair and Jansen are determined not to dwell on the past. The only time Blair looks behind her is to see who is gaining, and even though no one has passed her for any significant length of time, she imagines hordes of Chinese, South Koreans and Germans on her heels. Jansen looks only one way, straight ahead.

That was the lesson he learned two years ago, when he was constantly reminded in interviews about the death of his sister, Jane, of leukemia on the morning of his first race in the 1988 Winter Games at Calgary, Canada.

It was a story told over and over to a sympathetic worldwide television audience: He skated hours later in the 500 meters, fell, returned to the ice four days later in the 1,000, the day he would return home for the funeral, and fell again.

A gold-medal contender in both races four years later in the Winter Olympics at Albertville, France, Jansen was haunted by the memory of his sister, or at least by the relentless questions about her death, and further impeded by slushy track conditions, he finished fourth in the 500 and an embarrassing 26th in the 1,000.

At a news conference earlier this winter, Milwaukee Journal columnist Michael Baumann began a question with, “Dan, you’ve won everything in speedskating but one thing . . .”

Interrupting, Jansen good-naturedly asked: “And what would that happen to be, Mike?”

Jansen, 28, has taken that approach in all interviews this winter, deflecting any attempts to discuss past Winter Olympics.

“On race days, I know what I have to do, whereas before I would go into races maybe too relaxed,” he said during the recent U.S. Olympic trials in Milwaukee. “I still go into races relaxed, but it has to be aggressive relaxation.”

Were you too relaxed, he was asked, in 1992?

“No,” he said, “but let’s not talk about ’92.”

His coach, however, will talk about it.

“We’re not looking at it like we did in ‘92, when we said we’re just out here to compete and do the best we can, while in the back of our minds we were thinking we wanted to win a medal,” said Peter Mueller, American gold medalist in the 1,000 meters in 1976.

“This time, we’re not fooling ourselves, saying one thing and thinking something else. I’ve put a lot of pressure on D.J. in the last six months. We’re telling people we want to win that medal. If we don’t win, well, life goes on. But that’s definitely our focus.”

The approach has worked so far.

In the first major international competition inside Hamar’s Olympic Hall last December, Jansen became the first man to skate 500 meters in under 36 seconds, breaking the barrier twice on the same weekend.

It could be argued that his historic times were attributable to the fast track in the Viking Ship, a multipurpose facility that designers joke is adaptable for every sport except ice fishing. Particularly suitable for speedskating, seven world records have been set there in the last two months.

But Jansen has been fast on every track this winter. Two weeks ago in the world sprint championships at Calgary, he again lowered the record, to 35.76 seconds. He also has skated impressive times in the 1,000.

“He’s mentally better than I’ve ever seen him,” Mueller said. “I think he knows this is his last Olympics, and he knows what he wants to do.”

So does Blair.

She has her sights set on a three-peat as the gold medalist in the 500 and a repeat in the 1,000. But that is only because she always wants to win and not because her fourth and fifth gold medals would distinguish her as the United States’ most decorated female Olympian. U.S. women with four gold medals are track sprinter Evelyn Ashford, swimmer Janet Evans and diver Pat McCormick.

“I guess those are things you guys think about,” she told reporters this winter. “I can’t really think about that because if I start thinking about that, that’s going to take away from trying to accomplish what I want to do out there.

“I think that’s one of the reasons I’ve had the success I’ve had: Concentrate on that race at that time. That’s all you can think about.”

After winning two gold medals in 1992, Blair, 29, thought age might be catching up with her when she did not dominate the sprints last year. But she changed coaches, from Mueller to former sprinter Nick Thometz, and that has revitalized her.

“She’s been doing the same thing for so long that motivation can be a problem,” Thometz said. “I’ve tried some different things with her. I think it’s been a plus.”

Blair plans to compete through next year. Asked if 30 is too old to race, she said: “Oh, no. No, no, no.”

If she has any regret about her career, it is that she has been so focused, she has not had time for a life outside it. She has a boyfriend, speedskater David Cruikshank, but they are noncommittal when asked about marriage plans.

“I’ve probably struggled with that more this year than anything else,” she said. “Put everything aside, go to the rink, come back and eat lunch, lie on the couch, go back to the rink again and do whatever your next workout is, come back home, eat dinner, watch TV, go to bed.

“I see my friends running around with kids. Everything has changed for them, and I’m still the same.”

One close friend she envies is Jansen, who has been able to successfully blend his career with his family life. Last year, he and his wife, Robin, had their first child, a daughter. They named her Jane, for his late sister.