MEMORIES OF THE ’96 OLYMPICS

By Susan DeMattei

I was a bit nervous in the morning. Prepared a nice strong cup of joe, did some stretching and watched our teammates, Tinker and Don Myrah, on the TV. It was a weird feeling knowing we’d be out there in a few hours.

Waited until 11 a.m. to fix pancakes, my pre-race ritual breakfast. After getting all fueled up, Anje (men’s sprint coach) drove us to the venue. The place was a zoo! The men’s race just finished, and we made a mad dash for the USA tent after chatting with my dad and stepmom.

I had the last position on the starting grid, but there were only 29 women.

The starting gun went off.

I had a terrible start, but worked my way through most of the gals during the first 20 minutes, and eventually glommed onto the lead pack.

Juli Furtado, Alison Sydor, Paola Pezzo, Gunn-Rita Dahle and a Frenchwoman made up the lead pack, but by the end of lap one, it had whittled down to me, Alison, Paola and Gunn-Rita. Juli was having a hard time with the heat. I drank as much as I could, but it was a bumpy course and drinking was difficult.

The crowd was phenomenal. I oftentimes couldn’t hear myself breathing. My husband, Dave Wiens, had helped design the course. He was running to different parts of the course, yelling out encouraging words and advice.

By the third lap, Paola had ridden away. Alison powered away on a climb, leaving Gunn-Rita and me together. As luck would have it, Gunn-Rita faded after we lost Alison. I was starting to get some cramps in my legs with only 20 minutes to go, but I had a decent gap on Gunn-Rita, and I was so excited about the prospect of a bronze medal that I was able to keep a steady pace through the home stretch. Riding through that corridor of spectators at the finish line was thrilling. I wanted to thank each and every one of them for cheering us on throughout the day. Dave was waiting for me, open-armed, as I rode over the line. I felt like the luckiest girl in the world.