PARK CITY, United States (AFP) – K.C. Boutiette could become the oldest Olympic speedskater since 1924 at age 47 and win a long-sought medal thanks to a new event, the mass start that debuts at Pyeongchang.
But he might also settle for helping world mass start champion and US teammate Joey Mantia’s quest for gold if he gets that chance two months before his 48th birthday.
The man who inspired a legion of inline skaters to Olympic glory when he switched to ice for the 1994 Games has never won a medal.
Four-time Olympian Boutiette appeared done after a 2006 US team pursuit flop, but came out of retirement in 2014 with eyes on the mass start, where tactics and strategy mix with endurance and closing speed.
He took second last November in Nagano, becoming the oldest World Cup medalist by claiming his first tour podium since a 10,000m bronze in February 2004.
“I had a lot of luck on that mass start,” Boutiette said Wednesday. “I almost 100 percent called it a career. There are a lot of other things in my life. I want to be a dad and I want my wife to have her life back.”
She said, “It’s only a year. Keep going.” So he did, saying, “I want to finish on top. On top doesn’t necessarily mean winning.”
Just making the team would be a feat. A fall in any of three qualifying races before the team is named in January could doom his dream, although he will also try his luck at 5,000m.
“I can’t lose focus on why I’m skating and that’s the mass start,” Boutiette said. “If I make a mistake in the mass start I’m done.”
Boutiette would be the oldest Olympic speedskater since Britain’s Albert Tebbit, 52, was 20th at 5,000m at the inaugural 1924 Winter Olympics in Chamonix, France.
Old rabbit or gold hunter?
He is likely fighting for a US spot behind Mantia and that forces a tricky question in a strategy race — would he sacrifice his medal hope to boost Mantia’s chance at gold?
“In my opinion, this is going to be a guaranteed medal for us,” Boutiette said.
“I’m willing to take a back seat and that’s hard for someone like myself to do because I do want to win a medal.
“Reality is, I can only win a race with a little bit of luck. Joey doesn’t need luck.
“If I skate with Joey, he could get me on the podium and if we race a certain way, I could get him on top. That’d be cool.”
Mantia admired the self-sacrifice Boutiette offers.
“For somebody to do that at that race and give 100 percent sacrificing to you, that’s really cool,” Mantia said. “It’s special, one guy making a complete sacrifice. If we do find ourselves in that position, it’d be great.”
And Boutiette could live with helping a US victory even if he wouldn’t get a medal.
“I don’t need being the winner. If I do that and he won and I had a part in it, the joy of doing something like that, it would be pretty cool. The medal goes in your closet.”
If Boutiette wins a medal, he has plans for it.
“I would chop it up into however many pieces I need to give a piece to everyone who ever helped me during my career. That would be the coolest thing,” he said.
“A little piece of a medal and a ribbon, that’s all I’d have left.”
© Agence France-Presse