Shani Davis

Local Look

When he became the first African-American to win a gold medal in an individual sport at the 2006 Olympic Games in Torino (winning the 1000m), Shani Davis was fulfilling a destiny he always thought would occur. Davis lives in Milwaukee, but grew up in Chicago and his mother used to make him run a mile to his training center to build up his endurance. It was clear he would be a force in the sport.

Shani began making history at age 17 when he became the first U.S. skater to earn spots on both the short track and long track Junior World Teams and accomplished that feat three years in a row in 2000, 2001 and 2002. At 22, not only did Shani win his third consecutive U.S. Allround Championship and Regional Qualifier (long track events), Shani became the first U.S. skater to make all three World Teams in the same season in the 2004-2005 (World Sprint, World Allround and World Short Track), medalling at all three events, and ultimately winning the 2005 World Allround Championships held in Moscow, Russia.

In addition to his Gold and Silver (in the 1500m) at the 2006 Olympics, Davis also repeated his World Allround Title in 2006. In the 2006-2007 season, Shani won world titles in the 1000 meter and 1500 meter events. In the following season (2007-2008) Shani repeated his 1000 meter World Title. For this 2008-2009 season, Shani won his first World Sprint Title and his third 1500 meter World Title and currently holds two world records (1000m and 1500m).