Skater Sharing Success
Murray McCormick, The Leader-Post
Thursday, May 4, 2006
Justin Warsylewicz learned about the inspiration that can come from a
Winter Olympic medal from one of Regina's sports icons.
Warsylewicz was a member of the Regina Speed Skating Club when Marcia
Gudereit attended a practice with her women's curling gold medal that
she won at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan.
"I handled it and I thought it was the coolest thing," said Warsylewicz,
who earned his own Olympic medal during the 2006 Winter Games in Turin,
Italy. "If some kid gets inspired by that, that's really important."
Warsylewicz, who lives and trains with the Canadian long track speed
skating team in Calgary, was recently in Regina to visit family and
friends and show off the silver medal he won in men's team pursuit.
"I don't have any problems letting people touch or wear it," Warsylewicz
said of the donut-shaped medal. "If I could inspire one kid, that's
pretty cool."
Warsylewicz feels an obligation to share the medal with the speed
skating community because it played a huge role in helping him win it.
"The club and the people in the club had just as much of a part in it as I
did," he said. "I was the one who was skating, but I got a lot of
guidance and was inspired by a lot of people in the club."
Warsylewicz is an inspiring story. He has gone from the Mount Pleasant
Oval to a Canadian and world junior men's champion to standing on the
medal podium in Turin. He even overcame Wolff-Parkinson-White
Syndrome—an irregular electrical current in his heart—in 2004 to share
in the Olympic medal. It took two heart surgeries to get
Warsylewicz back on track.
"(The medal) symbolizes a lot of hard work and rough times getting it,"
Warsylewicz said. "It's a reminder of what I've been through. Maybe in
these next four years, I will be able to pull it out when times are
tough. It will inspire me to put my head down and get through it."
Warsylewicz has emerged as one of the Canadian stars for the 2010 Winter
Olympics in Vancouver. He was the youngest member of the Canadian speed
skating team in Turin and will only be 24 when the next Winter Olympics
roll around.
"There isn't any pressure because it feels so far away,"
Warsylewicz said. "This year was a busy one. Right now I'm thinking
about this coming season. I want to get better individually and that's
what's most important for me."
Warsylewicz, who shared in the silver medal with Yorkton's Jason Parker,
expects a busy summer training and preparing for the 2006-2007 season.
He also knows that there will be more focus on the speed skating team,
especially after its success in Turin.
"This next four years will be like ones no one in speed skating has gone
through,"
Warsylewicz said. "We're not just going to fade into the background like
in the past and return when the Olympics get close. It will be good."