U.S. OLYMPIC FESTIVAL : His 22 Golds Aren’t Quite Enough

Before you laugh, remember that it is a sport.

A sport with real, hard-working athletes. The kind of athletes who would scoff at golf for not being athletic.

The kind with muscle definition on their legs and the gaunt look of a six-hour workout in their cheeks.

Some of these athletes could hurt you in a fight.

So don’t smirk when you find out that the Olympic Festival’s most decorated athlete got all his medals in speedskating.

Roller speedskating, that is.

Dante Muse, 27, has won 32 medals in Olympic Festival competition. Twenty-two of those are gold. He’s a roller skater on a roll.

His closest competitor is Sean O’Neill, who competes in table tennis and has won 24 medals.

So, these are really the best and brightest of those who were paraded and honored Friday at the Olympic Festival’s opening ceremonies under St. Louis’ Gateway Arch.

Amid the air show, bands and fireworks, the most decorated are still somewhat in the shadows.

But it figures that the athletes with the most medals would compete in less-visible sports. In higher-profile sports, athletes move on to bigger money and professional careers.

For those such as Muse, this is the professional career.

Muse, from Des Moines, Iowa, is sponsored by a car company that pays him a salary to compete in in-line speedskating.

So in his small world, Muse is the master.

Obscurity knocks.

“It is kind of tough being unrecognized,” Muse said. “When most people I meet ask me what I do, they respond by saying ‘Roller skating? What is that?’

“I wish I could just show everyone what it is,” Muse said. “It’s not what they think.”

But it is many things.

Skaters compete indoors, outdoors, wearing in-line skates and quad skates. They compete in sprints and distances no specializing--and in relays.

Although speedskaters such as Muse do not often compete in them, there are also figure skating events--pairs, freestyle and a dance competition. There are compulsories in each but figures for roller skating require much more discipline than figures on ice. Participants must follow traced lines and circles on the floor. They are judged on execution and style.

“It ain’t Roller Derby,” is what the media guide tells you. There is no contact and surfaces vary from banked concrete to straight-away road competition.

Competitors have been known to race 16 races in six days, from 500-meter sprints to 3,000 meters.

At one time or another, Muse has conquered them all. Along with 22 gold medals, he has five silver and five bronze.

So what’s to motivate him?

“Well, last year, let’s just say it wasn’t my best,” said Muse, who started racing in his parents’ rink when he was 5. “There’s pressure from people who ask why I didn’t win, but that pressure is also from myself and it is a motivator.

“I don’t feel I’ve done my best unless I win. That’s not arrogance, but confidence. I know how many times I’ve won and I know how hard I’ve worked for some 20 years.”

If he wins, he will be laughing too.