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Skater Fredricks’ whole life prepared him for Vancouver

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Photo by Associated Press

Janesville native Tucker Fredricks faces a talented field of skaters when he goes after an Olympic medal in the 500 meters.

Dan Fredricks recalls being in an airport with his son, speedskater Tucker Fredricks, when the entire Dutch speedskating team rushed over to Tucker to say hello.

Tucker greeted them with his predictable grin.

The 25-year-old has climbed the ranks to become one of the best sprinters in the world. He is making his second Olympic bid in Vancouver next week. He won gold and silver medals in recent World Cup competition.

None of that has changed the likable kid from Janesville, whose good nature transcends language and wins friends around the world.

“Tucker is still the same Tucker he was when he lived here,” Dan says. “If you met him at a party, you would have no idea that he is an Olympian because he wouldn’t talk about it.”

His hometown and the world will be watching when Tucker races twice in 500-meter events Feb. 15. His performance on the ice, totaling about one minute, will determine his place in history.

With that kind of pressure, Tucker has every excuse to be nervous. He insists he is keeping his cool and enjoying video games and rap music during down time.

“Waiting is the hardest part,” Tucker says in a telephone interview from his Salt Lake City home. “But I’ve been doing a good job this year of not letting things get to me. Whatever is going to happen at the Olympics is going to happen.”

His whole life has prepared him for a few pivotal seconds in Vancouver.

Tucker began ice skating at age 2. Photos of him in family albums show a chubby-cheeked toddler on the rink at Traxler Park. But he also biked, swam and played soccer.

His parents immersed their only child in all kinds of sports.

They also took him to concerts and plays and encouraged activity in the arts. Tucker learned to play the violin, then the huge upright bass. When he played at school concerts, his parents sometimes had trouble seeing Tucker, who was small in stature, behind the music stand. Tucker also sang in a high school choir and enjoyed art. In high school, he created a stained glass image of 2002 Olympic gold medal skater Derek Parra, which hangs prominently in the Fredricks’ living room.

Dan and his wife, Shawn, raised Tucker with a healthy philosophy: Do something for your mind and body every day.

Shawn recalls her son excelled in sports at an early age.

He was a proficient skater by the time he was 4. He was playing ice hockey at 5 or 6. He started winning “fastest skater” competitions at youth hockey tournaments at 10.

Eventually, Dan took Tucker to the Madison Speed Skating Club on the invitation of a friend. Tucker went along because he figured it would make him a better hockey player.

“The coaches saw that he had potential as a speedskater,” Dan recalls.

Tucker wanted to continue playing hockey, but he realized he might be too small. He’s 5-foot-6 today. Eventually, he focused on long track skating, and his speed translated into success. Tucker was used to playing with a team and scoring goals. In time, he started to enjoy the individual challenge of speedskating.

“In hockey, you just wanted to beat the other team,” Tucker recalls. “In speedskating, everyone was friends, and we all had fun together.”

Eventually, Tucker became a member of the Junior National Long Track Speedskating Team. Every year after that, his parents asked him if he wanted to continue with speedskating and follow the rigorous program or do high school sports.

“We kept expecting the coaches to say, ‘This is where the road ends with your son,’” Dan recalls. “But they did not. The coaches saw his potential.”

Dan had flexibility in his work schedule, so he drove Tucker six days a week to a long track in Milwaukee, more than an hour and 15 minutes away. During the week, he picked up Tucker after school, and they did not finish at the Pettit National Ice Center, a U.S. Olympic training site, for several hours.

“In elementary and middle school, I had quite a few friends,” Tucker recalls. “When I started speedskating, all my friends turned to speedskating friends. I did not have time to hang out with high school friends. I was gone all the time because that is what I wanted to do.”

Tucker’s parents helped him set new goals related to skating every year. Shawn, an accomplished runner and triathlete, cut back on competing so the family could focus on Tucker. But they never uttered the “O” word until the year he made the junior team.

“We did not go into it with the idea that he would compete in the Olympics,” Dan says. “We wanted him to enjoy the journey.”

Tucker recalls that his parents did not want to pressure him.

“Once I got good at speedskating, they just let it happen,” he says. “They just let me do my own thing.”

After graduating from Craig High School in 2002, Tucker earned a spot on the 2006 U.S. Olympic Team. The 18-year-old moved to Salt Lake City to train with other members of the national team, including medalists Joey Cheek and Casey FitzRandolph.

“We trained together and spent a lot of days, weeks and months living together,” gold medal speedskater FitzRandolph of Verona says. “I first met him when he was a little squirt, and he came to Madison for practice. I knew he would be good someday ... He just got out there and zoomed around. He skated circles around the rest.”

Tucker made his Olympic debut at the 2006 Games in Turin, Italy. The 21-year-old competed with high hopes after being the 2003 Junior World Champion. He was mortified when he placed 25th.

“I wasn’t in the right place of mind,” he reflects. “I went to practice and went through the motions, but I did not give it 100 percent. I just enjoyed the people, the lifestyle, the traveling. I did not know how hard I had to work to be at the top. I was young. I was disappointed, and I was embarrassed.”

Then Tucker had a life-changing moment on a fishing trip with a teammate.

“I wasn’t catching any fish, so I put down my pole,” he recalls. “It just happened. I decided I’m going to do this.”

Tucker found the fire in his belly and trained with new passion.

“Before, it was kind of a chore,” he says. “Now, it’s fun for me because I see a purpose.”

He went from being Tucker Fredricks, an athlete with talent who wasn’t reaching his potential, to Tucker Fredricks, World Cup champion.

He took on a new seriousness about skating, but he never lost his desire to be light-hearted. Once, he urged teammates to get cowboy boots and wear them at the rink because he thought it would be awesome. Another time, he and a teammate went out for a couple of beers. The next day, instead of hiding it, Tucker marched up to his coach and announced: “We got wrecked last night.”

It hasn’t all been skating for Tucker. He fell in love between the long practices and lightning competitions. Tucker met former Japanese skater Eriko Seo in a taxi in Inzell, Germany, at a World Cup event. They got engaged in 2008 but have not set a wedding date.

“We’re going to wait until after the Olympics and see how that plays out,” Tucker says.

He credits Eriko with improving his diet and encouraging his renewed efforts on the ice.

FitzRandolph says Tucker has “a physical explosiveness” that will serve him well in the Olympic competition.

“That is a huge trait to have in the 500-meter sprint,” FitzRandolph says. “Tucker is a small guy, but his strength-to-weight ratio is very good.”

If Tucker wins the gold in the 500-meter event, he will continue a streak by U.S. skaters. FitzRandolph won in 2002 and Cheek in 2006.

As the days count down, Tucker’s dad, who does marketing for Dean Health System, says all the hard work has paid off.

“Just for Tucker to be at the Olympics is an honor,” Dan says proudly. “Who thought my kid would be on the team?”

Shawn, who teaches at Beloit Memorial High School, wants Tucker to enjoy the moment.

“That’s when he will do his best,” she says.

As for Tucker, he will turn off his cell phone as the big day approaches. He will keep his eye on the prize. He will believe in himself.

More than anything else, he wants to make his parents proud.

“They are the ones who did all the sacrificing,” Tucker says. “It took up a lot of their free time taking me to speedskating. They enjoyed it, I guess, but it must have been hard.”

He knows he is among a handful of elite athletes.

“I have a chance to do something not too many people have the chance to do,” Tucker says.

“Of course, I want to win.”