Highlights Archives
Golden Lake Placid Memories Recalled
Olympic speed skater Casey FitzRandolph, just back from the 2006 Winter Games in Torino, Italy, will make a personal appearance at the Wisconsin Historical Museum on Saturday, March 18, to recall the event that inspired him to pursue his own Olympic dreams. Surrounded by tangible reminders of the 1980 Lake Placid Winter Olympics, including the five gold medals Wisconsin speed skater Eric Heiden won there, FitzRandolph will recall how Heiden's feat inspired him to skate for gold himself in a presentation called "Golden Memories of Lake Placid" beginning at 1 p.m.
FitzRandolph, who like Heiden grew up in the Madison area, will speak in the exhibit gallery of Skating for Gold: Wisconsin's Olympic Speed Skaters, 1976-2006. Setting the stage for FitzRandolph's recounting of the Lake Placid Olympics, two Madison journalists who personally covered Heiden's five gold medal wins as well as the U.S. hockey team's improbable "miracle on ice" will also share their memories of that history-making event. Joe Hart, who covered sports for The Capital Times, and L. Roger Turner, retired photographer for the Wisconsin State Journal, will reflect on the night they saw the American hockey team come from behind to upset the highly favored Soviet squad — at the height of the Cold War. They'll also talk about watching Eric Heiden the following day do something no other winter Olympian has done before or since — winning his fifth gold medal in the grueling 10,000-meter speed skating race.
After FitzRandolph describes how Heiden's performance inspired him to become a speed skater who would go on to win his own gold medal in the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City, he will answer questions from fans and sign autographs from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. He will also make additional contributions to the Skating for Gold exhibit, including the gold medal he won in 2002 and the skates he wore in Salt Lake City and Torino. FitzRandolph will also contribute an Olympic torch from the Torino games, which the University of Wisconsin Children's Hospital will display after its exhibition at the museum.
FitzRandolph will use the occasion of his talk to introduce two Special Olympics speed skaters he has helped to train, Jill Mitchell and Ann Helmuth. "Golden Memories of Lake Placid" will be free to the public.
:: Posted March 15, 2006
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