As you all know, Stephen Colbert stepped in and with the royally cool offer to raise money and support for US Speedskating in its Olympic journey. As you may also know, there are a couple of skaters who skate for the US, but who aren’t supported by the US Speedskating organization. Sadly, one of those, gold medal winner Shani Davis, is making headlines by expressing some not particularly Colbert-friendly sentiments.

From the Associated Press:

Davis calls US team patron Colbert ‘a jerk’
(AP) – 1 hour ago

CALGARY, Alberta — Stephen Colbert’s Canadian-bashing isn’t sitting well with at least one American speedskating star.

“He’s a jerk,” Shani Davis said Thursday when asked for his take on the comedian’s criticism of Canucks. “You can put that in the paper.”

Davis declined to elaborate, making the comment while vetting potential questions from The Canadian Press before rejecting an interview request and walking away.

. . .

[Veteran Chad] Hedrick and [rising star Trevor] Marsicano both appreciate Colbert’s support, even though neither was particularly familiar with his show on Comedy Central before he came on board.

Hedrick hopes Colbert’s fans will help bring more exposure to and increase the profile of a sport that repeatedly leads the way in terms of medals won by Americans at Winter Olympics.

“We’re really fortunate that he jumped on board. It’s a great situation for us,” Hedrick said. “We needed it financially. It’s a great opportunity for U.S. Speedskating to provide things for the athletes that they wouldn’t be able to provide without him.

. . .

Full article available here

I should point out that this is obviously Davis’s opinion, which should by no means be attributed to the whole of US Speedskating (the quotes from Marciano and Hedrick make that clear). By all accounts, Davis has always been something of a loner: he skates for the US, but he has not signed the athlete agreement with US Speedskating (which “provides some funding in return for endorsing federation sponsors”, according to the Chicago Tribune). His talent is undeniable — he made history as the first black man to win an individual gold medal in Winter Olympics — but he’s never been overly concerned with cuddling up to the media.

Mr. Davis is certainly entitled to express himself, and he may feel more strongly about Stephen’s sponsorship because of his (Davis’s) personal connections to Canada. But in my opinion, this is a dick move because of the way it reflects on his teammates. Davis doesn’t have to worry about his own sponsors, but it would have been nice if he’d taken into account his teammates’ supporters. It’s just not very classy to subject them to embarrassment (and potentially worse) like this.

So, I’m still rooting for the speedskaters like mad. I’m still hugely happy that Stephen stepped in. I still think his involvement is a great thing for US Speedskating. And I’d still love to see Mr. Davis continue his successful streak.

But I now find myself placing Shani Davis on my own personal “On Notice” board.

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