First of all, in the last winter Olympics, he was booted from the team because one of his team mates accused their leader Apolo Ohno of throwing a race to let Shani win the qualified meet to get on the team. Apolo swears that wasn’t true that Shani won on his own. Still the coach of the team decided not to allow Shani skate. He was shamed and discredited by the American Press (so what else is new?) and left the games. He was never interviewed by this racist press to see what his side was, just left quietly in the night. But he had a game plan, he practiced more and came back in the world games and won many medals. Still the elusive Olympic medal loomed in his consciousness.
He also became the first athlete in history to qualify for both the team and individual meets. Never been done before. Then when he got to Italy he and his coach decided he wouldn’t skate with the team but would just concentrate on winning an individual medal. Again, the American Press, this time lead by Bob Costas of NBC, maligned Shani. They questioned whether he was a team player, or just being selfish. Still no interview with Shani...what was his side. Well, yours truly wrote Bob Costas an angry e-mail, questioning why he didn’t tell the whole story of why Shani might want to go for self as opposed to going for his own individual gold. Of course there was no answer (laughing).
But Shani had the last laugh. With Saturn, planet of discipline and tests and the support of his mom Cherie, he won easily over the other skaters. He did it the right way. He totally ignored the criticisms coming from other team members, stayed to himself and practiced for his meet. I want to tell you that Leos especially have been experiencing challenges from Saturn, Mars, Neptune and Jupiter. But still we rise (smile) Instead of feeling sorry for himself or focusing all the energy toward his distracters he focused on what he knew best...to skate the best time recorded in the history of the sport. You go boy!!!!
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