Denny Morrison Website

By Jolanda Abbes

On June 12-13 several Canadian speed skaters will once again participate in the MS Bike Tour, a two-day 180-km trip from Airdrie to Olds and back, to help build more awareness of Multiple Sclerosis and to raise as much money as possible for MS research. They will do so as members of Team Tazza, and among them will be Denny Morrison, Olympic gold-medalist at the Vancouver Games last February. Morrison got involved in the Bike Tour when his good friend and fellow-speed skater Crystal Phillips was diagnosed with MS a few years ago and organized her first MS Bike Tour team in 2006. After solely focusing on his speed skating for such a long time because of the Olympics, Morrison now feels it’s time to give something back by urging people to donate to this cause.

Despite some setbacks during the past season and some highs and lows at the Olympic Games in February, Denny Morrison did manage to take home an Olympic gold medal from those same Games in its very last speed skating event: the Team Pursuit. Together with teammates Lucas Makowsky and Mathieu Giroux, Morrison beat Team USA by 0.21 seconds in an exciting final. Now that the Olympic season is over, Morrison has been enjoying a well-deserved break from speed skating and succeeded in finding other ways to spend his time, including a planned return to the MS Bike Tour on June 12-13.

Morrison got involved in the Bike Tour for the first time back in 2006, when his longtime friend Crystal Phillips was diagnosed with MS, and only a few months after this diagnosis decided to start organizing a team for the Tour to help raise money for MS research. Morrison reflects: “I've known Crystal through speed skating since we were about 8 years old. She's always been a fast speed skater and we often shared podiums as the male and female winners of our age class at competitions growing up. I was out of town when I first heard Crystal was diagnosed with MS and called her to support her in any way that I could. Crystal's attitude right from the start was positive and hopeful, and when she started rallying the troops to form a team to raise money for MS research by riding in the MS Bike Tour, I was the first in line.” Consequently, he was part of Phillips’ team in the first two years of its existence.

Phillips looks back on some life-changing years. After she had her first ‘attack’ in June 2005, at the young age of 19, she was officially diagnosed with MS in February 2006. MS is a disease of the central nervous system that affects vision, hearing, memory, balance and mobility. After 2006, Phillips slowly seemed to overcome MS but lately she has been troubled by some health issues again. However, change in her situation may be just around the corner, with a very important new breakthrough discovery in MS called CCSVI, discovered by Dr. Paolo Zamboni, a former vascular surgeon and professor at the University of Ferrara in northern Italy. All of Team Tazza's funds raised this year will be directed towards further research into this discovery. Phillips: “So far the Liberation Treatment has shown incredibly positive results around the world. However, much more studies need to be carried out, and this is why funding is needed more than ever.”

For his first year on the Tour, Morrison set himself a goal of raising $1,000, and for his second year he raised the bar to $1,200, and both goals were easily met. Now, after having missed the 2008 and 2009 Tours “while selfishly preparing for the 2010 Olympics”, as he puts it on his personal fundraising page, Morrison feels it’s time to make up for his missed Tours, and has raised the bar yet again, to $3,000. “An Olympic gold medal is something which I am very proud of, but something which I would have never achieved without the support and sacrifices of so many people around me. I feel it is now my responsibility to give something back. To share my Olympic medal, my Olympic story, and my Olympic experiences with as many people around me as possible. If I can inspire someone to dream big and believe in the goals that they've set, I know they will achieve them. Let’s make a cure for MS our big goal! Just as with my Olympic medal, a cure for MS would be impossibly hard to achieve without the support of many people. Donating is the EASY way to help out! I'm putting in an extra effort this year to make up for my missed Tours and I hope you will show extra support too! And if you donate over $100, I'll let you touch the Olympic gold medal! However, if you really want to have an impact, join the Tour! You will be doing something healthy for yourself while at the same time supporting a really great cause.”

To date, Team Tazza has already raised around a quarter of a million dollars, and since 90% of the money for researching MS comes from pledges and donations in events such as the MS Bike Tour, it is important that people continue to donate to events like this. And now more than ever, funding is needed to help speed up research into CCSVI and the Liberation Treatment. And who knows… Make a significant enough donation to research that is so close to discovering a cure for MS, and you may end up holding an actual Olympic gold medal along the way!

Please click here for the complete original version of this article.

Interested in helping Denny Morrison reach his goal of raising $3,000? Click here for his personal fundraising page.

To keep informed on new research going on in MS and events put on by Team Tazza, click here.

For more information on the Liberation Treatment, click here.

Who was BC's top athlete at the 2010 Olympics?

Nominee

Denny Morrison

Hometown: Chetwynd, BC
Sport: Speed Skating

When gold was on the line in the Men's Long Track Team Pursuit final, Denny Morrison and his team came out on top. A two-time Olympian, Morrison brought both experience and determination to the Games. After two long weeks of competition the men’s long track team was hard pressed to stay energized for their final event. Surprising everyone with an innovative strategy of pushing their teammates along, the Canadian men managed to stay on pace becoming gold medalist in the team pursuit.

The winner will be announced on March 31, 2010 at Sport BC's 44th Annual Athlete of the Year Awards presented by TELUS.

To see who is currently leading the fan vote, please visit here. Note: It may take a few minutes for your vote to appear.

Share your vote on facebook or twitter using the hashtag #44AOY

Andrew Vacheresse/Jackie Crawford Feb 27, 2010 22:02:00 PM

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) - Many are celebrating in Fort St. John in honour of Denny Morrison's gold medal win, Saturday. Morrison has been named Fort St. John Skater of the Year for seven consecutive years, which is an acknowledgment for the way the skater has put his community on the map.

Mayor Bruce Lantz says Morrison is an inspiration to all of the kids growing up in remote towns. "It shows that someone can come from a small northern community and they can acheive success on the world's stage. I think that gives everybody an opportunity that lives in communities like Fort St. John. The understanding is they have a goal and they work hard. They have the opportunity of acheiving what Denny has achieved."

Morrison grew up in the northern B.C. town before moving away to train internationally in 2003 - and nobody knows the hard work has paid off more than the woman who first coached the athlete.

Karen MacLaren coached Morrison  when he was just three-years-old, and explains she couldn't be more proud of his success. "I'm just absoloutley ecstatic about it. Of course, everybody came up to me at the rink and said 'did you hear they won the gold? They won the gold!' So, it's just absoloutley thrilling. I'm so proud. I really am, beyond words."

MacLaren coached Morrison and his older brother Jay for two years in Chetwynd back in 1986. Since then, she has watched him excel over the years, winning medals for speed skating at world championships and a silver at the Games in Turin.

By Lori Culbert, Canwest Olympic Team February 21, 2010 8:02 PM

Denny Morrison of Canada cools down following his 9th place finish in the men's 1500-meter speedskating competition at Richmond, BC during the Winter Olympics. Photograph by: John Mahoney, Canwest News Service

VANCOUVER — As the nation collectively held its breath Saturday — in anticipation that Denny Morrison might bring Canada another medal — there were more than a dozen members of his family also feeling that tension in the stands at the Richmond Olympic Oval.

Morrison, of Fort St. John, B.C., had not reached the podium earlier in the week, after disappointing finishes in the 5,000- and 1,000-metre events, but the 1,500 metres is his strongest race. At one time, he held the world record.

The packed crowd at the oval erupted in frantic applause for all four Canadian speedskaters, but the loudest support came for Morrison. “You can do it!” a spectator hollered just before the starter’s whistle blew. When the scoreboard flashed that Morrison was in second place mid-race, the building went berserk. Canadian flags gyrated, and fans hooted with glee.

But the oval fell silent when he flew across the finish line in fifth. Morrison’s brother Jay, himself a competitive speedskater, buried his head in his hands in disbelief. The night would end with the home-province medal hopeful in ninth place.

Morrison, just 24, skated dejectedly around the oval’s practice track a few times, not acknowledging supporters in the crowd, lost in thought about what had gone wrong. It was a repeat of the 1,000-metre race, which left him frustrated — but his mother Carol proud that her son was trying his best.

“To us he looked great. He looked like he was having a really good solid race. You’re disappointed for him, certainly not in him,” she said. “You couldn’t be prouder. You even feel pride in the way he has to hold his head and go on.”

That pride is shared by the hundreds of people who came to Vancouver and Whistler, B.C., to support their son, daughter, husband, wife, nephew, niece, grandchild — or even their parent.

When 28-year-old Marc Kennedy looks into the crowd at the packed Vancouver Olympic Centre,......We’ll love him no matter what, but we want him to win.”

The nerves also kick in for Carol Morrison, who shlepped her three kids back and forth to practices and competitions for two decades.

“There’s a feeling of helplessness. You’re confident, you know your child is ready, but on any given day you don’t know what will happen,” she said.

And the pressure is high, unlike in Turin where a young Morrison was competing in his first Olympic Games. He was expected to medal here, in his home province, and has one more chance in the team pursuit next weekend.

The Morrisons try not to think too much about the possibility of a family member winning an Olympic medal on home ice.

“You start to think like that, but then think, ‘Oh no, I don’t want to jinx him,’ ” older sister Julie said. “You want him to medal, but you really just want him to skate his best.”

Big brother Jay — who had his appendix removed last summer and failed to qualify for the Olympics — watches Denny’s races with a technical eye, and can detect fraction-of-a-second subtleties that go unnoticed by others. “When he races well, I know,” Jay said. “And it’s hard for me when he doesn’t race well.”

It was clear Denny did not think he had skated well Saturday, as he forlornly told reporters post-race that he didn’t know why but he had “exploded” in the final lap around the oval, loosing his momentum.

There were a dozen other Morrison relatives in the stands for Saturday’s race — from Newfoundland, Ontario, Alberta and B.C. — to root for Denny.

“He loves people in the stands . . . it seems special that all these people have come to watch,” Jay said. “Denny is a great competitor. That kind of thing feeds the beast.”

And, besides, all those friendly faces are around after the race, to either help you celebrate or cheer you up.

“In either situation or scenario, here they are,” Jay said.

lculbertvancouversun.com

With a file from George Johnson, Canwest Olympic Team

© Copyright (c) Canwest News Service

‘There should be no mistake: I put all the blame on my shoulders’: Morrison

February 21, 2010 Randy Starkman

RICHMOND, B.C.—Denny Morrison, who created a stir within the Canadian speed skating team with his comments following his disappointing showing at these Olympics, apologized Sunday to his coach and teammates.

Morrison, who was 13th in the men’s 1,000 metres last week, appeared to question the program he was on because his technique failed him in the stretch in a ninth-place finish Saturday in the men’s 1,500 metres.

He also complained about not being allowed to train with Shani Davis, his former training partner, because Canadian officials didn’t want the American to benefit from the extra resources leading into the 2010 Winter Olympics.

As well, Morrison gave the impression Saturday night he would have a hard time getting motivated for his last event, the men’s team pursuit.

“I’d like to apologize to my coach, to my team if they read that and got discouraged or they felt like I had wronged them,” he said in an interview. “I apologize if it came across that way. That’s not what I intended.”

Morrison said he had already been in touch with coach Marcel Lacroix, who had defended his program by saying it had been good enough to get Morrison world championship medals and a world record in the past.

“I phoned Marcel as soon as I heard there was negative stuff printed about me talking about him that way,” he said. “I just said ‘Look, that’s not how I wanted it come across.’ I’m not trying to point fingers.

“There should be no mistake: I put all the blame on my shoulders. What I was doing was looking for answers. The answer was I wasn’t skating well technically. I didn’t skate the race I should have at the end. I just finished my race. I was emotional. ... I guess it came across like I was pointing fingers. But the fact is I didn’t get it done.”

Morrison said he’s looking forward to the team pursuit, which starts Friday.

“That’s not even an issue,” he said. “The team pursuit’s going to be good. We’ve done a lot more training together than most of the teams. We have a really good strategy that’s going to help us. We know what this ice can give.”

He said he was sorry if he gave the impression he didn’t care about the event.

“It’s like running a marathon and you finish a marathon and someone says ‘Hey, are you looking forward to doing that marathon in a week,’ and you’re out of breath and your legs are burning and all you want to do is warm down and eat some food,” he said. “You’re not thinking about the marathon in a week. For me, it’s another shot at an Olympic medal. We’ve got a really good shot.”

Morrison said it bothered him that some media outlets portrayed him as being critical of Own The Podium, the program created to try to help Canada become the No. 1 nation.

“I don’t feel like I was blaming OTP,” he said. “They’ve been great. Why would I complain about OTP? They’ve done so much for Canadian sport and all the Canadian athletes.”

By George Johnson, Calgary Herald February 21, 2010 3:05 AM  

Calgary's Denny Morrison skates with his head down following his disappointing 9th place finish in the men's 1,500-metre speedskating competition on Saturday at the Richmond Olympic Oval.Photograph by: John Mahoney, Canwest Olympic Team, Calgary Herald

He cut a distinctively forlorn figure, gliding absently on the blue inside practice ice as the decibel level inside the Richmond Oval kept ramping every higher, pushing forward other skaters, faster skaters, medal contenders. Denny Morrison looked done. Figuratively and literally.

In those moments that seemed to drag on into eternity, the devastated double-medal threat looked adrift, displaced. "Lost" is how his coach Marcel Lacroix described his skater-in-turmoil later. And that fit.

"Every single competitor wanted to win this race,'' said Morrison. "There are always going to be three happy people and a bunch of unhappy people.

"I felt I could've today. But it goes back to the feeling that I don't really know what it is that I'm not doing right or what I'm doing wrong. I'm just not skating the way I can.

"First two laps, great. Then Poof! It's gone.''

Yes. Poof. Gone.

For another four years. Whereas in the wake of an admittedly deplorable skate in the 1,000 metres, Morrison courageously, and correctly, shouldered the blame himself, Saturday following the crushing ninth-place finish in his signature race, the 1,500, he dumped the refuse everywhere.

He questioned his training program.

He waxed nostalgic for those days pushing and pulling star-spangled American Shani Davis as they trained together on a daily basis.

He even hinted that, devastated by his inability to snare an individual medal at these Games, it might be difficult to summon his best for the upcoming team pursuit ( "I can give you the answer my sports psychologist would like me to tell you or I can give you the answer I really feel. It's not as simple as forgetting a race I prepared for for four years") and openly said Steve Elm would be of a great help in it.

On Friday, he admitted throwing a hissy-fit during training, stopping a session and pitching his glasses into the middle of the ice.

"I regret it,'' he said. "My coach,'' he admitted, "shouldn't have to treat me like a kid.''

It all smacks of misdirected frustration.

Morrison's aspirations for an individual bauble at these Games faded as he did down the stretch, over a second and half behind gold medallist Mark Tuitert of the Netherlands (1:45.57). Davis, the 1,000-metre champ, claimed silver as he had in Turin, while Norwegian Havard Bokko collected bronze.

"It's something that's been happening to me all season,'' Morrison complained. "I don't know if it's the program or what. I don't want to point any fingers. But I know that as far as lactic power and total lactic power, if we did hill sprints I could crush all these guys.

"In the last lap, you saw I lost all my speed. 'Exploded' is the term. It wasn't that I wasn't trying hard, it wasn't that I gave up, I just wasn't putting it technically into the ice the way that I should've been. That's something, for whatever reason, that I've lost over the last 12 or 15 months.

"It was kind of frustrating, knowing that as we got closer to the Olympics I was skating poorer and poorer, especially when I got tired. The first lap or two of the race today was exactly how I wanted it. I felt I was skating it efficiently and powerfully. It was coming easy. The speed was there. I was there with the top two guys in the first lap and then basically. . .

"It wasn't that I just got tired and started going slower, it was that I got tired and just started skating worse.

"Something in my training program, I don't want to point fingers, but I just couldn't do it. Physiologically I feel like I'm way ahead of most of my competitors.

"It's all technique out there. Technique in speedskating's going to give you 50 per cent."

Coach Marcel Lacroix, retaining an even keel, wasn't buying the program-let-me-down theory.

"For the last three years, his technique was fine,'' he countered. "He got a world record in the program. He won a silver medal at the world championships, and a bronze medal at the world championships.

"So what, now it's not working? Now it's the program's fault? No. No. I don't support that.''

And as for the Shani-Denny theme, Lacroix said that Davis continues to go from strength to strength, training virtually on his own, while Morrison is surrounded by a team.

"That,'' Lacroix said, "is not an excuse.

"He's probably just lost, trying to find some answers. Two days ago (in the 1,000) he didn't skate. Today, he skated. After the first two splits he was second. He came out of the corner, moving really, really well and then with 300 metres to go, his legs gave out. Just too heavy. He couldn't finish the race the way he'd like, the way he used to be able to do, even a couple of weeks ago.

"There are many factors when an athlete doesn't perform to par. It's a bit like you're in a fog. "Where am I going now? What's going on?' You're searching, reaching to find that answer.''

The inconsistency that has plagued Denny Morrison all season came to roost here at the worst possible moment. But the warning flags had been up for a while. One week at a World Cup stop in Calgary, for instance, he reached the podium in three events. Four days later in Salt Lake City, said Lacroix, "nothing. He wasn't there. Physically he was tired.''

So all that's left for Denny Morrison, for a men's team that has underperformed here, is the upcoming pursuit.

Marcel Lacroix expects him to show up ready.

"We can't,'' said the coach, "sit around and wonder if it's going to affect us. Someone like Denny is disappointed he didn't win an individual medal. But now this is, like four years ago in Turin, his only chance at a medal. And a medal's a medal.

"You can sit and cry or you get up and say 'You know what? I've still got a shot. In another sport, you miss one gate, there's no tomorrow. It's over.

"He still has a tomorrow. I really hope he sees it like that.''

gjohnson@theherald.canwest.com

© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald

Posted Sunday, February 21, 2010 1:13 AM ET

By Christie Blatchford, The Globe and Mail

Denny Morrison of Canada competes in the men's speed skating 5000m on Day 2 of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. Getty Images

Denny Morrison was bewildered, a little angry, pulling his punches abit (he seemed to want to criticize the Own the Podium program forhaving failed him but stopped short of saying how it had),disappointed.

A legitimate medal contender in both the 1,000 and 1,500metres, he'd finished 13th in the former last week. Saturday night wasto have been his so-called redemption race.

Instead he exploded - that's the term speed skaters use - and died in the last lap.

Whenasked if he could rally himself for the upcoming men's team event,bless his heart, he said, "I can give you the answer my sportspsychologist would like me to tell you or I can tell you how I reallyfeel." I felt like clapping. He even managed to escape the press scrumwithout apologizing.

The night before, beautiful MellisaHollingsworth, the skeleton favourite who finished fifth, was weeping,telling a TV interviewer "I feel like I have let down my wholecountry." The night before that, Christine Nesbitt seemed almost afraidto celebrate her gold medal in the 1,000 metres, as if carpe diem didnot include joy.

In between, here and there, other Canadianathletes, when the heartless cameras first found them but before thetalking heads got to them, have mouthed a silent "Sorry."

AndSaturday, at last, at least two Canadian sportswriters used the word"choke" or "choking" to describe the performance of the men's alpineteam at these Olympics.

It was almost a relief. That it cameunusually late in the game is a testament only to the four gold medals,three silvers and one bronze that the country's athletes have won, andthe remarkably good performances (such as the three men who finished inthe top nine in the 30-kilometre pursuit yesterday) many others havelogged.

It is my 12th time watching this demeaning, exhausting, ridiculous Canadian circus.

TwelveOlympics I've been to, and every single time, the old accusation isdragged out and cast at some kid who has just busted a gut and whoseonly failure is not to live up to the expectations of someone else,usually someone with a pot belly or in a suit. It is like the languagedebate in this country, the conversation as without end, as wearing, assuperficial and puerile. In both, there are instigators on thesidelines, chips the size of trucks on their shoulder, waiting to takeoffence. The rest of us just want them all to shut up.

Thefirst time I saw it happen at an Olympics was in Innsbruck in 1976, inthe days when most Canadian athletes did finish in the back of thepack. Those kids were hardly losers; rather the opposite. Theirmodern-day counterparts now regularly finish in the top third, but thekids are the same.

Worth noting: The "what's wrong?" discussion almost never starts with Canadians watching at home.

Asone of them, Anton Plager, whose three cousins played in the NationalHockey League and who is no stranger to excellence, snarled in a noteyesterday, "Canadians are quite aware of the abilities and sacrificesneeded for these kids to excel in their chosen sports and are alsoquite aware that some days it all comes to together and other days itdoesn't. That's sports." Then he added, "I believe 'Own the Podium' isa good program with an absolutely idiotic name. In business as you wellknow, 'Under-promise and over-deliver' is always better than thereverse. Same in sport." I think he's right: Goals are good, reachingfor the top honourable, but as ever, it's not the winning which is thegreat teacher, but the long hard road there. That's how young Canadiansacquire that grave sense of responsibility to one another and to thecountry, learn that you have to experience failure to fear it, thatit's the ride not the result which matters.

Marnie McBeanv, thegreat, gold-medalling rower who is a mentor with the Canadian teamhere, was at Whistler the night Ms. Hollingsworth made her mea culpa."What I said to her was that she had worked hard enough to believe inher dream, and that it wasn't life, it was sport," Ms. McBean said.

She told her, "Let the country love you."

Iwalk home here on Granville Street every night, one of the partystreets I have come to call The River of Vomit because, were it not forthe extraordinary efforts of Vancouver's sanitation department, itwould be just that after the usual invasion of 100-150,000 young peopleevery evening, most of them half-drunk. I watched as one young womanstopped, held up her cell phone camera, opened her mouth wide andlip-synched a loud shriek, and took her own picture.

What wouldyou want for your daughter, that she be the fifth-best drinker onGranville, or go upstream, against the current, and dare to testherself in something?

Let the country love the right ones, for the right reasons.

By PAUL FRIESEN, QMI Agency

Last Updated: February 19, 2010 8:52pm

Denny Morrison will learn from his earlier mistake when he gets back on the oval at the Olympic Games in men's speed skating. (QMI AGENCY file photo)

RICHMOND, B.C. — Denny Morrison didn’t try to hide from the bogeyman that burst from his closet the other day.

The product of Fort St. John, B.C., admitted he choked under the bright lights of his first Olympic podium shot at these home-province Games.

In case there was any doubt, his coach confirmed it.

“Something happened at the gun,” Marcel Lacroix said of Morrison’s 1,000-metre race Wednesday. “He was not focused like Denny usually focuses. He’s been really, really good under pressure. And for whatever reason, the crowd, wanting to win so bad, he wasn’t able to just be himself.

“Something happened. Some demon came out.”

Get out the crucifixes, the wafers and the holy water — we’re going to have an exorcism Saturday.

It’s the 1,500 metres, in which Morrison twice won bronze on the World Cup circuit this season. He also took third at last spring’s World Championship 1,500, right here at the Richmond Olympic Oval.

The 24-year-old has also known how the podium feels in the 1,000. Hence, hopes were up in the back rooms of Speed Skating Canada that the men’s team could keep early pace with the women.

Then came the Morrison Meltdown.

Lacroix was surprised. He’d seen Morrison turn in a solid debut in the 500, and assumed the jitters would be gone.

Apparently, the thought of a medal was too much.

“He wanted it too much,” Lacroix said. “He worked … but working at this level is not good enough. You have to be technically sound.”

All the soundness in the world isn’t likely to vault Morrison to the top in the 1,500.

Like the 1,000, this is a race owned by American Shani Davis, Morrison’s old training partner.

Davis, who won gold in the 1,000, was sympathetic to his old bud, saying having a big crowd behind you can be a blessing — or a curse.

“They can either work for you or work against you,” Davis said. “It depends on how you receive the energy they give you. I was surprised.”

Another Canadian hopeful, Kyle Parrott of Minnedosa, Man., was questionable for Saturday’s race.

“I’ve been getting dizzy and almost blacked out at the end of my races,” Parrott, 24, said. “So I have to get it checked out. But most likely, I will race.”

paul.friesen@sunmedia.ca

By George Johnson, Canwest Olympic Team February 18, 2010 

Denny Morrison of Canada crosses over in front of Mark Tuitert of the Netherlands in the men's 1000 meters speedskating competition in Richmond, BC during the 2010 Winter Olympics. Morrison finished 13th. Photograph by: John Maloney, Canwest News Service

RICHMOND, B.C. — He had the sort of glassy-eyed gaze of a guy who’d seconds earlier been subjected to the business end of Mike Tyson’s right hamhock.

The disoriented look of one of those blindfolded kids spun round-and-round at a birthday party and told to whack the pinata.

“I . . . can’t even remember my race,’’ stammered Denny Morrison after his men’s 1,000-metre speedskating race Wednesday night at the Richmond Oval.

It wasn’t amnesia. Just selective memory loss.

“I don’t know . . . I felt good on the line. My opener was OK time, but I just never had top-end speed, and then I never carried speed well at all. This is one of those races I fell apart at the seams.

“Four years I spent trying to get . . . you know, getting myself psyched up, getting my confidence up, getting my technique perfected, equipment honed and then I just, I don’t know, fell apart.

“I’ve had some ups and downs this season, good races and bad and this was just . . . just a bad race on a really bad day to have a bad race.’’

Not the worst day. That would be Saturday, 1,500-metre day. But, no soft-soaping this, it’s right up there.

Morrison was asked how best to describe his feelings standing the mixed zone Wednesday night. Frustrated? Disbelieving? POed?

“All of the above,’’ he replied.

While his old training buddy Shani Davis of the U.S. was blazing his final lap to edge Korea’s Mo Tae-Bum by 18/100ths of a second for gold, Morrison, considered a reasonable pre-race shot at joining his pal on the podium, never pushed himself out of dry dock finish a distant 13th, in one minute 10.35 seconds, more than a second and a half in arrears.

There was great hope that he could become the second long-track Canadian medallist, joining 3,000-metre bronze-medallist Kristina Groves.

Morrison was, after all, sixth in the world at the distance and had claimed a silver medal at the single distance championships on this very sheet last year.

“I was nervous in the warm-up and the I calmed down. I felt really good when they announced my name and I went to line . . .’’ He struggled for answer. “I don’t know. I felt good the whole day.

“I’ve got to find my wings a bit, grow some anger.’’

Among the other Canadians entered, Jeremy Wotherspoon bade farewell to Olympic skating with a 14th-place performance, while Francois-Olivier Robert of St. Nicolas, Que., was 20th and Kyle Parrott of Minnedosa, Man., 24th.

If there was a beacon of hope for psychological recovery for Morrison’s specialty, the 1,500 on Saturday, it was in his own refusal to let himself off the hook. He didn’t moan about the ice. Fate. Bad luck. The blissful efficiency of the Calgary-imported Zamboni at work. Or even the presence rinkside of political pundit Steven Colbert, outfitted in red, wear a red jacket with ‘Assistant Sports Psychologist’ emblazoned on the back, to cheer on Davis, his The Colbert Report skating opponent.

No, he laid the blame right where it belonged.

“It’s the Olympics,’’ Morrison said. “It’s who brings it on that day. I’m usually the kind of guy who performs well under pressure. The first thing you want to do is blame something outside. I need to review my race and find out where I lost things. Because it’s in me.

“I’m the one who has to perform. And I just didn’t do it.’’

The controversial Davis, who blew off requests for interviews on Tuesday night (after many of the U.S. media had hung around the Oval all day waiting for him to finish training) got it done when it counted, although through the first 600 metres he seemed destined to relinquish the Olympic title to his Korean challenger.

“It means a lot,’’ said Davis. “I’m going to continue to keep on trying to defend what’s rightfully mine. Once you are world champion, you’ve got this thing on your back called a target and people usually shoot for it. Just to be other there and defend the title was truly amazing.

“I learned not to pay attention to things that are negative and obviously it was the right thing to do, because it helped me in my speed.

“Today nothing came easy. I’m happy that I went through it. It was a lot of hard work, determination and dedication. It’s always nice to go out there and do it again. Four years ago, I was on the offensive and now I find myself on the defensive.

“Here I am getting spanked and smoked in the 5,000 and having a rough 500.’’

Tell Denny Morrison about spanked and smoked.

But he paid tribute to a person he likes and a skater he, and everyone else, greatly admires.

“I’m happy for Shani,’’ he said. “I haven’t talked to him much this week. But he deserves it, obviously. He’s undefeated. This was sort of expected but I still like to challenge myself. I thought I could give him a challenge, a run for his money.

“I wasn’t even close.’’

gjohnsontheherald.canwest.com

© Copyright (c) Canwest News Service

By Grant Roberton, The Globe and Mail Posted Thursday, February 18, 2010 12:13 AM ET

CTVOlympics.ca

Denny Morrison didn't have to search for the words to describe his race Wednesday. It was his most disappointing performance ever.

The speed skater from Fort St. John, B.C., went into the 1,000-metre event as a heavy favourite to be on the podium, and to challenge defending-champion Shani Davis of the U.S. for gold. Instead, he came away empty-handed in a painful day for Canada on the long track. Morrison placed 13th, with a time of 1:10.30, more than a second back of Davis, his rival and former training partner.

"I don't even remember my race," a shell-shocked Morrison said afterward. "I don't know It's one of those races where I kind of fell apart." He was the highest-ranking Canadian. Jeremy Wotherspoon of Red Deer, Alta., skating in his final Olympic race, placed 14th with a time of 1:10.35.

François-Olivier Roberge of St-Nicolas, Que. placed 20th with a time of 1:10.74, while Kyle Parrot of St. Albert, Alta., placed 24th in a time 1:10.89.

But it was Morrison that the Canadian squad was pinning its hopes on. After a season of inconsistent races, Morrison said he felt good heading into yesterday, but couldn't find the top-end speed he is accustomed to showing in big events.

"It's just frustrating," he said. "Four years I spent getting myself psyched up, getting my confidence up, getting my technique perfected, my equipment honed." The 1,000-metre event was one of two races in which Morrison was expecting to make the podium. The other is the 1,500-metre event on Saturday.

A visibly upset Morrison said he was going to go into the change room and get out some anger from the race. He would also use his disappointing time to motivate himself for the 1,500-metres.

"I have got to use [the 1,000-metre] that way to make it positive for myself," he said.

"It's a just bad race on a day that is really bad day to have a bad race,'' teammate Jeremy Wotherspoon empathized with Morrison.

The skater from Red Deer, Alta., has been in the same position, coming into an Olympics heavily favoured for gold, but falling short. Wotherspoon encountered the same feelings at the past two Games, and said Morrison has to do his best to regroup for Saturday if he is to have a shot at a medal.

"I would definitely tell him he's got another race," Wotherspoon said. "He's just got to sit back and relax and look at what has worked for him."