Saga of the Heart

It was the golden moment of the golden Lillehammer Olympics. Hard-luck speedskater Dan Jansen, probably the best sprinter in the world, had finally won a gold medal, in the last Olympic race he would ever skate.

He had just missed as a youngster at Sarajevo, finishing a surprising fourth in the 500. He had missed twice four years later in Calgary, falling in the 500 only hours after learning that his sister, Jane, had died of leukemia, then four days later, just before leaving for her funeral, falling again in the 1,000. He had missed yet again four years after that at Albertville, inexplicably hesitating in the final turn of the 500, then, his confidence shot, finishing 26th in the 1,000.

And at the upside-down Viking ship rink in Hamar, Norway, he had already missed in the 500, slipping in the last turn and finishing eighth.

So when he won the 1,000 in world-record time, knowledgeable and sympathetic Norwegian fans nearly blew the roof off the hall. And Jansen, almost overcome with emotion, sang the words to the national anthem, then skated over to his wife, Robin, plucked their baby daughter, Jane, from her arms and skated the infant around the rink in a victory lap.

Heartwarming? The word was coined for that scene.

Jansen is here for these Olympics, doing speedskating commentary for CBS, and Sunday, before the men’s 1,000, he couldn’t help but think of all that happened four years ago.

“Actually, I’ve been thinking about it for a few days,” he said. “It brings back so many memories.”

Jansen does motivational speaking these days, among other things, and says he tells the story often.

“I do think about it, and relive it a lot,” he said.

It seemed a perfect ending to six years of anguish and Robin said as much at the time: “Our saga started back in Calgary when Dan lost his sister, Jane. The saga ended today, and we wanted it to end with the new Jane in our lives.”

And they all lived happily ever after?

Would life be so tidy?

Jansen still lives in Milwaukee, where he grew up and learned to skate. Robin and Jane and another daughter, Olivia, 2, live in North Carolina. The Jansens are in divorce proceedings.