Shani Davis: Making Black History at the 2014 Winter Olympics
A look at the speed skater’s historical moments.
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Shani Davis Is Going for Gold - Shani Davis already made history at the 2006 Winter Olympics when he took home the gold medal for the 1,000 meter race and became the first African-American to win a gold medal in an individual event at the Winter Olympics. Four years later, he did it again. Now in Sochi at the 2014 Winter Olympics, Davis is taking another shot at making history by becoming the first American man to win three straight Winter Olympic gold medals in one event. Keep reading to follow Davis’s historical moments. — Dominique Zonyéé (@DominiqueZonyee)(Photo: Harry How/Getty Images)
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Humble Beginnings - Raised by his single mom in Chicago, Shani Davis started rollerskating at the age of 2 and by 6 years old he was on the ice. He joined the Evanston Speedskating Club to help hone his skills.(Photo: Getty Images for Adidas)
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A Child Star - Like most children, Davis enjoyed playing video games and hanging with friends, but seeing the star power in her son, Shani’s mother encouraged him to start competing when he was 8 years old. He began winning regional age-group competitions and started to gain interest in competing on a professional level.(Photo: Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)
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Teenage Dream - Davis went on to win five National Age Group Championships in 1995, 1997, 1999, 2000 and 2003. But he didn’t start making skating history until he was 17 years old when he became the first American skater to earn spots on both the short track and long track Junior World Team in 2000.(Photo: Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)
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All Three U.S. World Teams - Shani was just getting started. When he was 22 years old, he won his third consecutive U.S. All-Around Championship and Regional Qualifier in the long track events. That same year, he became the first U.S. skater to make all three World Teams in the same season (World Sprint, World All-Around and World Short Track).(Photo: Getty Images)
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