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American Morning

American Speed Skater Casey Fitzrandolph Captures Gold Medal

Aired February 13, 2002 - 08:33   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: There was a close encounter with a lane pylon, but that could not stop American speed skater Casey Fitzrandolph from capturing the gold medal in men's speedskating just yesterday. It was an amazing victory, and Casey Fitzrandolph joins us now from Salt Lake.

Thanks very much for being with us this morning. Congratulations.

CASEY FITZRANDOLPH, OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST: Thank you. Good to be here.

COOPER: I have to ask you, you've probably been asked this a million times, but does this feel? I mean, 22 years ago, you were five years old, watching Eric Heiden five gold medals on TV in Lake Placid. Twenty-two years later here you are, the only American male to win the 500 since Heiden.

FITZRANDOLPH: That's hard for me to believe. He is the reason I started skating, and we've had a lot of great skaters like Dan Jansen, since Eric, so when I heard that yesterday, it was a bit of a shocker to myself.

COOPER: I understand Eric Heiden, who is with the team now as a physician, was there for your race. Did he give you any advice before you went on the ice?

FITZRANDOLPH: You know, just one thing that Eric did tell me was how hard it was for him to sleep before his races and how nervous he was. So that -- I think that helped me put things into perspective and realize that it was only natural for me to be going through what I was feeling.

COOPER: I read somewhere that you said that the victory was tinged with sadness. Why?

FITZRANDOLPH: Jeremy Witherspoon, one of my best friends and one of the best skaters the world, took a spill right off the line in his first race. So that first day especially was really bittersweet for me. I mean, on one hand, I was ecstatic that I skated the time I had. On the other hand, I would have liked nothing more than to duke it out with Jeremy.

COOPER: Well, your fellow American Kip Carpenter was in the race with you, and he went on to win a bronze. Did having him in the race push you for the gold?

FITZRANDOLPH: I think having Kip as a pair the last day was a huge blessing, because it makes you -- it relaxes you. It makes you feel more like it's just another Saturday weekend race, you know, Saturday morning race, so you also know how each other skates and you know you can gauge yourself a little bit off the other guy. So it was a huge plus for both of us.

COOPER: This is a big win for you. You had high hopes in Nagano at the last Olympics, and you ended up coming in sixth there, and a lot of people pointed to the introduction of the new clap (ph) skate. Is that what caused the difference? Is that what caused you problems in Nagano?

FITZRANDOLPH: I believe so. I really felt going into Nagano like I was the man to beat in the 1,000 meters and those clap skates came out and they caught me by surprise, that's for sure. So that was really hard for me to swallow. I had -- everything had been going perfectly according to plan for so many years, that I thought in Nagano, I'd finally get my gold medal. So, you know, to be knocked back a peg there was challenging. And these last four years have been trying, but victory is sweet when it finally comes.

COOPER: I imagine it is. I know speedskating is obviously completely different than figure skating, but, you know, this controversy about the pairs figure skating is on a lot of people's minds. I'd be interested just to hear your take on what you think of the judging in the figure skating.

FITZRANDOLPH: Well, it's a fair question, but an honest answer would be I was in a cocoon because of my competition, and I'd be lying to you if I said that we even know what's going on. So we get bits and pieces at night, but that's about it. I wasn't really aware of that whole situation.

COOPER: All right. Blissfully unaware. That's good. You have one more race. How do you think you're going to do?

FITZRANDOLPH: Thank you. I'm looking forward to it. I -- right now, I'm savoring the big piece of metal I've got around my neck, but I think tomorrow, with a good night's sleep, we'll see what happens.

COOPER: Can you hold up the gold for us? I can't see it where you are.

FITZRANDOLPH: Come again.

COOPER: Can you hold up the medal that you're wearing? Is it around your neck now?

FITZRANDOLPH: Yes, I can hold it up for you. I'd love to.

COOPER: Yes. Yes OK. There it is. Is it heavy?

FITZRANDOLPH: It's very heavy. I like that. Solid gold, I think. COOPER: All right. Casey Fitzrandolph, congratulations. A great race. Wish you luck on your next race. And thank you for joining us this morning.

FITZRANDOLPH: Thanks for having me.

COOPER: All right. Good luck.

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