Jeremy Wotherspoon finished 14th in the men’s 1000 metre speed skating event at Whistler on Wednesday, which was a disappointment for himself and his fans as he went into the event expecting a medal.
The disappointment could be seen in the Olympic long track speed skater who finished his last Winter Games for good, retiring from competing professionally.
“I felt like in the race today, there are little things here and there that I can do better and things that I have done better,” Wotherspoon told CTV after the race. “When I can bring those things into one race and do them all at my best, I know I can go a lot faster.”
Wothersppoon’s time of one minute 10.35 seconds was short 1.42 of gaining a gold medal for his country and just over one second short of medaling all together.
The United States dominated the event with Shani Davis taking the gold and Chad Hedrick taking the bronze. Tae-Bum, of South Korea, finished with a time of 1:09.12, achieving second place winning a silver medal.
Experts consider Wotherspoon to be the best long track spirit skater in Canada, however, has repeated fallen short of achieving great success at the Winter Games.
“I think people don’t tend to understand how when I didn’t do well and I was portrayed a certain way I had trouble dealing with that,” Wotherspoon told The Toronto Star. “I’m still trying to make sure that I’m okay with that because it’s something that comes with competing at the Olympics.”
The native of Red Deer, AB., began his career competing in both long and short track.
The Olympian has competed in the 1998, 2002, and 2006 Winter Games with only succeeding in Nagano ’98, when he won silver.
“I’m at the point now where I’m not worried about trying to make up for other events — not that I should — I think I’ve just learned not to worry about that,” The speed skater told the Cape Breton Post. “Each race is its own experience and I want it to be something I look back on and treasure.”
Denny Morrison of Canada came in 13th and teammates Francois-Olivier Roberge and Kyle Parrott came in 20th and 24th.