Olympic Speed skating

Shani Davis is an American hero and one of the best speedskaters of all time. 

Sochi doesn't change that. 

Now, it's understandable that the 31-year-old is going to feel disappointed. After surprisingly finishing eighth in the men's 1,000 meter on Wednesday, he fell to 11th in the 1,500 meter on Saturday, ending his bid for a fifth individual medal. 

Afterward, he talked to the media about perhaps what will weigh on him most, via NBCOlympics.com's Nick Zaccardi:

I had everything going into it, but I come away with nothing to show them and give them, to say thank you for believing in me and following me. So, I’m really disappointed, not only for myself, that I couldn’t meet my expectations, but for the people that have been tuning in, watching, view parties, things like that. I’m very disappointed.

Following Davis' defeat in the 1,000 meter, a race in which he took gold at the previous two Olympic Games, The Wall Street Journal's Joshua Robinson and Sara Germano reported the Americans were unhappy with their previously untested Under Armour suits. 

As NBC's Andrew Siciliano pointed out early on Saturday, the Americans were granted their wish by the IOC to switch back to their old uniforms:

It made no difference, though, as Davis—who was coming off back-to-back silvers in the 1,500 meter—finished nearly a second behind gold medalist Zbigniew Brodka. Podium contender Brian Hansen finished seventh, keeping the Americans at zero medals through seven events. 

Judging by Saturday's results, the suits turned out to be nothing more than a scapegoat and a distraction. Davis talked about the latter, via USA Today's Paul Myerberg:

"I think it was too many factors going on," Davis said. "I try to do the best I can, clearly. But there was so much stuff going on – with what's going on with this, what's going on with that, what's going to happen here. I really try not to make excuses for my performance because I worked really very hard, but I think if we can eliminate all those distractions and I could have just put that energy into performing and skating, it would have been a totally different outcome."

All things considered, the 2014 Olympics have quickly transformed from a potential medal goldmine to a controversial nightmare for Davis and the rest of the American speedskaters. 

But the Chicago native has no reason to feel ashamed.

Is the sting of everything that has transpired here going to last a while? Probably. From the suits to the distractions to the lack of focus on the things that mattered—"we spent a lot of energy here focusing on things that we didn't quite necessarily have to focus on in the past," Davis said—it will be easy to play the "what if" game for a long time. 

Nevertheless, when the immediate shock wears off, when excuses are done being made and when we ultimately look back on Davis' career, the 2014 Olympics are going to be far down on the list of what we remember. 

Most notably, we'll remember his world records, his four Olympic individual medals and the fact he is arguably the greatest middle-distance speedskater ever. 

Has Sochi been a disappointment for Davis? Absolutely. Will it be able to tarnish his unbelievable, transcendent career?

Not even close. 

The Russian fans were going crazy—standing, cheering, banging drums.

Victor An was in the process of winning a short-track medal for the Olympics' host country, but he was also hearing plenty of boos—from Korean fans.

Because Victor An has another name, a Korean name. He is also known as Ahn Hyun-Soo.

Whatever his name, he is a star short-track speedskating athlete and now a Russian hero after winning gold Saturday in the 1,000 meters. 

Until 2011, An competed successfully but contentiously for his native South Korea. After much trouble with the South Korean federation, he became a Russian citizen and began preparing for the Sochi Games. From what we've seen so far, the change has been a success.

An, 28, has won a bronze in the 1,500 and gold in the 1,000, with the 500 coming up on Feb. 21.

Sure, it seems against the Olympic spirit, this country-shopping, but it's happened before. It used to feel as if the Olympics was about rooting for our own country's athletes, even if they weren't the best, because they were raised and trained at home.

Now, more and more, we want to see the best, and who they compete for isn't as important.

An won Russia's first-ever short-track event with his gold in a nation more noted for long-track speedskating, as Russia chose to strengthen its short-track program by going outside the country. And An had good reasons for leaving. He was left off South Korea's short-track team in 2010 even after he worked hard to rehabilitate sore knees.

It seemed like a real slap in the face to the short-track star, who still wanted to skate at the highest level and win medals for South Korea.

But if South Korea didn't want him, others did. Russia made him the best offer. He has an apartment in Moscow where he and his fiancee live and a contract that will allow him to continue coaching in Russia after the Sochi Games if he wants to. Even the U.S. tried to recruit An to its team.

This is An's third Winter Olympics, and his resume is impressive: He's won six medals, including three golds for South Korea in 2006 in Turin before deciding to change nationalities. 

When An medaled for Russia in the 1,500 meters, he thrust a fist in the air but had to be prompted to grab a Russian flag to carry as he skated a lap around the ice with fans chanting "Vic-tor, Vic-tor," according to Mark Zeigler of the San Diego Tribune.

It was hard to tell if the fans understood the sport, since Russians tend to win more often in long-track speedskating. But they got the part about the medal.

According to Zeigler, it's unclear if An had even set foot, or skate, in Russia before obtaining his citizenship.

Russian short-track coach Sebastien Cros, who happens to be French, told the San Diego paper, "Korea didn't want anything to do with him. So he came to Russia."

After coming home from the 2006 Turin games, An and his father engaged in a screaming match with the South Korean federation in the airport, Zeigler wrote, an embarrassing moment witnessed by many. That split the South Korean team into an An camp and an anti-An camp.

The dispute reportedly had to do with training methods. An injured his knee in 2008 and was left off South Korea's 2010 team, a controversial decision, and the final push that sent An and his father looking for another home.

The Ans even approached the United States, but Russia offered more money, so An signed a contract through the 2014 Olympics to be a Russian skater, with an option to remain as a coach.

He said he changed his name to Victor because he wanted to honor a Russian rock star he admired, Viktor Tsoi, whose father also had a Korean background.

"I thought that I could have a better chance to prepare myself for competitions, that my training environment would be more favorable in Russia," An said last Monday in Sochi, per Zeigler. "So I just changed my citizenship."

Other short-track skaters don't seem to mind, and even a Korean newspaper poll gave An a 61 percent approval for leaving.

“It is good because a champion is beautiful to see in this sport,” Italy’s Yuri Confortola told Zeigler. “I prefer him to come back with Korea because I think he’s a Korean. I don’t like changing countries. But I prefer to see Victor An skate. With Russia is better than nothing.”

Another skater, Canada's Michael Gilday, said, "You need the best skaters on the ice. That makes the best show for the fans and helps grow the sport, so as a competitor you can't have sour grapes over the fact some guy who's really good and has a bunch of Olympic gold medals is all of a sudden getting another shot."

Cros noted that An has been in Russia for four years, has learned to speak Russian and has gotten Russian doctors who made his achy knees better.

"Always, there will be some comments like this," Cros told Zeigler. "But, you know, it's not my problem."

American short-track star Apolo Anton Ohno, who always had a big rivalry with Korean skaters in winning his eight Olympic medals, called An's defection "big news in speedskating," per Eurosport. "Any time you switch citizenship to race for another country, it's a big deal.

"I personally could never do it. But the one thing we can say for him is that he loves the sport and if that meant he had to switch the country he is representing, it really shows how dedicated he is."

There's always a debate. Should the Olympics be only about showcasing the best athletes or giving every country a chance to win something? But viewers of the Games, as many of those athletes said, want to see the best, and to them, it doesn't matter what country the best are competing for. 

An belonged on the ice this year, and Russia gave him that chance, welcoming him with the best of training and medical care and a comfortable life that has allowed him to show his best so far. An told reporters through an interpreter that he will always be appreciative of what the Russians have done for him.

"I am happy to be a citizen of two countries and I hold no ill-will to Korea," An said to reporters in a post-race interview that was replayed to Bleacher Report on tape. 

"I know now that I made the right decision and I'm now a man who has experienced success in two cultures. For me, that is an honor. I hope my countrymen in Russia are happy and I don't wish Korea anything but success. I feel I am lucky."

Diane Pucin is the Olympics lead writer for Bleacher Report. She covered seven Games for The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Los Angeles Times. You can follow her on Twitter @mepucin.

So much for blaming the suits.

The U.S. long-track speedskating team is out of alibis now that a change in uniforms for Saturday's men's 1,500-meter race failed to prevent another miserable American finish at the Olympics.

There was a glimmer of hope going into this competition that the U.S. would enjoy a sudden U-turn of success, because it was given permission to ditch the new Mach 39 Under Armour racing suits. Some suspected those full-body outfits were to blame for no American finishing higher than seventh through the first six speedskating races in Sochi.

But guess what? Seventh is still the best the U.S. has done at the long-track oval.

Brian Hansen wound up in that slot for the U.S. on Saturday, but far more notable was that America's best hope for speedskating medals in Sochi, Shani Davis, was a distant 11th.

Davis took silvers in the previous two Olympic 1,500s, but this time he was nearly a full second off the winning time. In speedskating, that means you aren't even in the same zip code as the guys who stand on the medal podium.

Poland's Zbigniew Brodka took the top spot there, but only after a computer review separated him from Dutch silver medalist Koen Verweij by .003 of a second, 1:45.006 to 1:45.009. Canada's Denny Morrison claimed the bronze with a time of 1:45.22.

Davis came in at 1:45.98, three places worse than he was in Wednesday's 1,000, where his pursuit of a three-peat of golds had been one of the biggest Olympic storylines.

Davis said he was "disappointed" by his finish in the 1,500, but wouldn't let the suit issue die. He said the U.S. Speedskating federation made a grave mistake by not allowing the new suits to be tested in competition for the Olympics. 

"The best thing would have been to make sure that these suits were what the people said they were, so that we can actually know going into the races instead of finding out on one of the biggest races of our lives," said Davis (via The Associated Press).

He told reporters that his poor eighth-place finish in Wednesday's 1,000 undermined his confidence for the 1,500 and left him distracted.

That changed my whole mentality of what I thought about skating, how I felt about myself, my confidence. Everything went down and I tried to build it up for the 1,500. But it's different when you can go into the 1,500 with a medal around your neck instead of going in there with an eighth-place finish.

Going into the 1,500, he said, "the damage of the suit was already done."

"It took its toll," Davis said. "I spent energy in ways that I wouldn't have done normally. I did as much as I could to get myself ready, but I felt defeated."

The failure of the U.S. to leave footprints on the podium yet again means the Americans are now looking down the barrel of a medals shutout in speedskating.

Heather Richardson and Brittany Bowe are contenders in Sunday's 1,500 for the women, but their respective finishes of seventh and eighth in the 1,000 don't generate much enthusiasm.

If the U.S. doesn't score there, it will have only four more chances to medal at Sochi: the men's 10,000, the women's 5,000 and the team pursuit races for both genders.

The Dutch men are universally expected to dominate the 10,000 after sweeping the 5,000 at Sochi. No U.S. woman has ever finished better than seventh in an Olympic 5,000. And with the Americans in relative shambles, the team pursuit is also looking dismal.

A shutout for U.S. speedskaters isn't unprecedented, but it is extraordinarily rare for the team that ranks second all-time for total medals and also for gold medals, behind only the Dutch.

The U.S. was blanked in 1956, when only men raced, and only at four distances. They also failed to bring home any hardware from Sarajevo in 1984, after the retirement of Eric Heiden left them without a star.

Why the U.S. has tumbled so far so fast is difficult to fathom. There was no reason to anticipate this sudden slump, as Davis and Richardson came to Sochi amid strong World Cup seasons.

But Davis looked like he hit a wall halfway through the 1,500, where he has held the world record since 2009.

While winning four career Olympic medals, Davis always dialed up powerful finishes effortlessly, but the 31-year-old couldn't muster one Saturday. He fell further and further off the winning pace as the race shifted into the decisive third and fourth laps.

And if the folks at Under Armour are breathing a private sigh of relief, they can't be blamed. 

As Bloomberg.com reported, the company's stock declined by 2.4 percent Friday, one day after a Wall Street Journal article reported that some U.S. speedskaters believed the Mach 39 suit hampered them. The main allegation from the unnamed athletes was that vents that were meant to release body heat instead were allowing air in, causing aerodynamic issues. 

That theory was plausible, given that Sochi is where the suits were tested in competition for the first time. They weren't unveiled until after the U.S. completed its Olympic trials in January. The reason for keeping them in storage until the Olympics was that the U.S. didn't want any other nations to get a look at their secret weapon for Sochi and steal design innovations.

All of which seems a little comical now.

Give Under Armour credit for going along with the change back to the uniforms the U.S. athletes have worn during this World Cup season, which Under Armour also manufactured. If nothing else, it gave the Americans the chance for a psychological boost.

“Everyone should take a deep breath, and see how everything turns out,” Kevin Plank, Under Armour chief executive officer and founder, said Friday in an interview with Bloomberg Television. “Let us let the athletes get out there and see what happens.”

Kip Carpenter, a U.S. speedskating coach and bronze medalist at the 2002 Olympics, also tried to take Under Armour off the hook.

Carpenter told reporters it was borderline ridiculous to think that the U.S. was failing in Sochi while the Dutch are thriving because of a difference in racing suits.

“Anyone who thinks that does not know speedskating," Carpenter said Friday. "In my opinion, the Dutch are just sitting deeper and pushing harder. They are just skating better than us.”

And so are the other six nations that have sent athletes to the podium while the U.S. has watched helplessly.

Tom Weir has covered eight Winter Olympics as a columnist and reporter for USA Today. You can follow him on Twitter at @TomWeirSports.

Both men's and women's speedskating at the 2014 Sochi Olympics have been thrilling to say the least, but the results have clearly been in favor of the Dutch.

The Netherlands has absolutely dominated the rest of the field, winning 13 medals in speedskating events thus far. It's clear that its athletes have by far been the most prepared to race in Sochi, as the Dutch have even swept the podium in two events—the men's 5,000-meter and the men's 500-meter.

Individual speedskating wraps up after the ladies' 5,000-meter event on Feb. 19. Team pursuit will begin on Feb. 21, and it will be interesting to see if the Dutch can keep up their impressive run.

The following is a preview of the three remaining individual races, with athletes to watch in each event.

Ladies' 1,500-Meter

The ladies' 1,500-meter event will take place on Feb. 16, and the field will have to be aware of the following competitors.

Ireen Wust, Netherlands

Beware of the Dutch in speedskating events.

Ireen Wust has already won a gold and a silver medal in Sochi, and she'll be looking to add even more hardware to her collection in the 1,500-meter event. The gold she won made it three-straight Olympics in which she has taken home the top prize.

Wust is the clear favorite for this event. Her prowess in speedskating far exceeds her competition, and the fact that she burst onto the scene as a 19-year-old in Turin means she has the experience to overcome bad laps and pick up lost seconds.

Don't bet against Wust in this one.

Heather Richardson, USA

Heather Richardson has had relatively disappointing performances thus far, finishing eighth in the 500-meter and seventh in the 1,000-meter. She'll be looking to avenge those poor performances with a strong one in the 1,500-meter.

Maybe those poor performances aren't all her fault though. Paul Myerberg of USA Today is reporting that Team USA has been cleared to change its speedskating uniforms after complaints by the athletes that the previous ones were slowing them down.

Myerberg reminds us that Richardson had already asked for a slight alteration in the suit, though the change didn't actually have an effect on her performance.

Let's see if the newer suits will change things for Team USA.

 

Men's 10,000-Meter

The men's 10,000-meter race will occur on Feb. 18, and once again, the field will have to watch out for the Dutch.

Sven Kramer, Netherlands

Sven Kramer has already dominated early on in Sochi, and he's preparing himself for what will surely be an exciting 10,000-meter event. Via Kramer's Twitter account:

Kramer won gold in the men's 5,000-meter by over five seconds with a total time of six minutes, 10.76 seconds, and he'll be looking to maintain a similar pace against the field on Feb. 18.

No other athlete at this year's Games has been as dominant as Kramer. The Dutch are surely reaping the benefits of having him destroying the competition, and they'd love to see him medal yet again in this event.

Don't just look for him to medal though. Look for him to win gold.

Emery Lehman, USA

America's young phenom in the speedskating world, 17-year-old Emery Lehman, will be looking to make the podium in an event that he just barely qualified for.

The speedskating trials that concluded on Jan. 1 featured the men's 10,000-meter race, in which Lehman was skating in hopes of qualifying for the Olympics. It came down to the final lap between himself and Jonathan Kuck, but Lehman was able to outlast his competitor and win by just .07 seconds.

Lehman finished just 16th in his first Olympic race earlier in Sochi, but he'll be looking to learn from that experience and balance the nerves with the adrenaline of racing at the Winter Olympics.

He's a dark-horse candidate to watch.

Ladies' 5,000-Meter

The ladies' 5,000-meter event will take place on Feb. 19, featuring arguably the most motivated athlete in Sochi for the 2014 Games.

Claudia Pechstein, Germany

The most motivated athlete in Sochi is by far Germany's Claudia Pechstein. After being banned from the Vancouver Games, Pechstein has reaching the podium on her mind.

Her fourth-place finish in the 3,000-meter will fuel her even more in the 5,000-meter event. Pechstein wants to prove that she belongs back in the Olympics. The fourth-place finish was impressive, but winning a medal is surely on her mind at this point.

Don't sleep on Pechstein. Just because she didn't medal in her last event doesn't mean she won't in this one.

Martina Sablikova, Czech Republic

Martina Sablikova took gold in this event in the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, and that makes her a favorite of sorts to compete with Pechstein.

Sablikova dropped out of the 1,500-meter event ahead of the 5,000-meter. The fact that she's resting up and saving her energy for the longer event would suggest that she's gearing up for a run at the podium.

Czech team spokesman Alexandr Kliment told RiaNovosti why Sablikova is sitting out of the event: "She will not compete in the 1,500m because she wants to prevent herself from getting injured before the 5,000m. She wants to rest and relax."

With proper rest, look for her to earn a spot on the podium.

Speedskating events in the 2014 Winter Olympics wore on with the men’s 1,500-meter final, and the United States continued to struggle in the event. 

American Shani Davis finished a distant 11th, as Poland’s Zbigniew Brodka took the gold, the Netherlands’ Koen Verweij took silver, and Canada’s Denny Morrison grabbed bronze in an incredibly close race. 

Despite the Americans’ complaining over their new Under Armour uniforms, the USA performed much as it did in the 1,000-meter race after reverting back to its old unis. 

Brian Hansen was the highest finishing American at seventh overall, while Joey Mantia came in 22nd, and Jonathan Kuck placed 37th.

Read on for the full list of Day 8’s results and Day 9’s schedule, as well as analysis from Day 8’s action.

Rank	Country	Name	Result
1	POL	Zbigniew Brodka	1:45.006
2	NED	Koen Verweij	1:45.009
3	CAN	Denny Morrison	1:45.22
4	RUS	Denis Yuskov	1:45.37
5	NED	Mark Tuitert	1:45.42
6	NOR	Havard Bokko	1:45.48
7	USA	Brian Hansen	1:45.49
8	NOR	Sverre Lunde Pedersen	1:45.66
9	KAZ	Denis Kuzin	1:45.69
10	BEL	Bart Swings	1:45.95

Day 9 Schedule

Event: Women’s 1,500 meter race

When: Feb. 16, 9 a.m. ET

Where: Adler Arena, Socchi, Russia

Watch: NBC Live Extra

Men’s 1,500 Meters

While many expected Davis to return to his competitive form in the men’s 1,500-meter race, he continued to disappoint.

The vaunted American finished eighth in his preferred 1,000-meter race, after winning gold in the event in the last two winter games, and he didn’t do much better in the 1,500. 

He finished a full second off the pace at one minute, 45.98 seconds. After a quick start that put him fifth at the 300-meter mark and fourth after 700 meters, he seemed to really lose speed.

Davis dealt with similar issues after the 1,000-meter race, so it could certainly be that lack of endurance—instead of some wardrobe malfunction—that hampered his time.

"I felt fast in the open, but after that, I don't know,” he told USA Today’s Paul Myerberg after the 1,000-meter race. “I have to look at the film and see. I'm not shocked; I'm very in tune with reality. But I'm disappointed." 

By contrast, Brodka started more slowly but ended well.

He was sixth after the first 300 meters but closed to third after the 700- and 1,100-meter marks to slip past Verweij by .003 seconds. 

While Brodka and Verweij raced pretty equally in the event’s final 400 meters, Canadian Denny Morrison fell off the pace after the 1,100-meter mark. 

Morrison was actually leading at that point in the race but ended up finishing at 1:45.22 overall.

However, he still has to be happy with the result. He finished second in the 1,000 meters, and adding these two medals comes as a pleasant surprise, as the Canadian Press, via the Ottawa Citizen, explains.

Both medals were a surprise for Morrison, who wasn't expected to contend for the podium in the individual events.

The 28-year-old finished 11th in the 1,500 at the 2006 Turin Games before settling for ninth four years ago in Vancouver.

But Morrison has since showed signs of improvement in the distance, most notably with a first-place finish at the 2012 world single distances championships.

While the result is certainly a positive one for Morrison and Brodka, Davis and the rest of the Americans have to be feeling the pain right about now. 

Davis has been an American star for a long time, but it seems as if his days on the national stage are numbered.

After all, he’ll be 35 by the time the 2018 games roll around—positively ancient by Olympic standards.

Instead, the USA will probably have to consider some changes to the program, whether it’s to the uniforms or the athletes themselves, as Poland gets to celebrate a big win.

Poland's Zbigniew Brodka barely edged the Netherlands' Koen Verweij to take home gold in the men's 1,500-meter speedskating event. 

Brodka finished his run in one minute, 45.006 seconds, finishing .003 seconds ahead of Verweij.

Canada's Denny Morrison earned the bronze for his second medal of the Olympics. He also won a silver in the 1,000-meter race.

Here is a look at the top 10, courtesy of Sochi2014.com:

Pos.	Name	Country	Time
1	Zbigniew Brodka	Poland	1:45.006
2	Koen Verweij	Netherlands	1:45.009
3	Denny Morrison	Canada	1:45.22
4	Denis Yuskov	Russia	1:45.37
5	Mark Tuitert	Netherlands	1:45.42
6	Havard Bokko	Norway	1:45.48
7	Brian Hansen	United States	1:45.59
8	Sverre Lunde Pedersen	Norway	1:45.66
9	Denis Kuzin	Kazakhstan	1:45.69
10	Bart Swings	Belgium	1:45.95

The win was a bit unexpected for Brodka, who only finished in sixth place at this event in the World Championships in 2013. However, he came through with a fantastic effort to secure the third gold medal for Poland in Sochi.

On the other hand, this was a disappointing effort for the United States, who once again failed to medal. Brian Hansen finished in seventh place, while Shani Davis only managed 11th.

The American athletes were wearing different suits from earlier in the week after a number of disappointing finishes. The team got approval from the International Olympic Committee to revert back to the suits they wore in the World Cup.

According to the Chicago Tribune's Jared S. Hopkins, U.S. speedskating chief executive Ted Morris said, "We don't think (the suits) are having any impact. But at the same time we want to make sure when our athletes get on that start line they have confidence and are ready to go. That's priority number one."

It now seems like the suits were not the problem as the United States once again failed to medal for the seventh event in a row. The country came home with four medals in Vancouver in 2010, but Darren Rovell of ESPN thinks at least Under Armour benefited from the poor showing:

Davis—who finished 24th in the 500-meter race and eighth in the 1,000-meter event—was clearly disappointed with his earlier performances. According to Matt Norlander of CBS Sports, Davis said after his previous race:

I have to live with this rest of my life. I just had a misfortunate race. ... It might have thrown me off that I opened so fast. I wasn't able to settle in and skate the way I normally would. I have struggled with that in the past, but it was something I never thought would happen under these circumstances.

Unfortunately, he once again fell short of the podium for the third time in these Olympics after appearing to tire down the stretch. The 31-year-old only has the team pursuit remaining on his schedule.

The Netherlands have had no such struggles. Even after the previous success, the squad explained that they were not done winning, per The Associated Press:

It certainly makes it easy to get excited with fans like this:

With five speedskating events remaining, you can assume the Dutch will bring home a few more medals before the closing ceremony, and Verweij in particular figures to have a bright future.

The 23-year-old was competing in his first-ever Olympics, and given his excellent showing so far, you can expect him to build off his silver-medal performance going forward. 

American speedskater Shani Davis' struggles continued at the 2014 Winter Olympics as the 31-year-old failed to reach the podium in the men's 1,500 meters in Sochi. 

Davis finished in one minute, 45.98 seconds, which placed him 11th, 0.98 seconds behind gold-medal winner Zbigniew Brodka of Poland. The Netherlands' Koen Verweij won silver, finishing an astonishing .003 seconds behind Brodka. Bronze went to Canadian Denny Morrison, who finished in 1:45.22, according to Sochi2014.com.

It had been thought that perhaps Team USA's new uniforms were to blame for Davis'—and the team's—lack of form, but this race proved that to be little more than a pipe dream. Davis wore the same uniform he had at the World Cup last year, and the results were underwhelming.  

Davis was one of Team USA's big title hopes heading into the Games. Not only has he been dominant in the 1,000 meters at the past two Olympics, but he's a strong contender in other disciplines.

Multiple medals were expected, but things didn't get off to a promising start.

He finished 24th out of 39 skaters in the 500 meters. While that isn't his best race, it was the first sign that perhaps the trip to Sochi wasn't going to become as successful as Davis and American fans hoped. 

The Chicago, Ill., native then went for his third straight gold in the 1,000 meters. Even if he didn't finish atop the podium, he seemed like a lock to medal. 

As ESPN Stats & Info noted, he was trying to become the first male speedskater to win three straight Olympic golds:

Instead, he finished eighth, more than seven-tenths of a second off the pace. 

There was more pressure on Davis heading into the 1,500 meters since he failed to reach the podium in either of his first two events. He captured silver in the competition in each of the past two Olympics.

Unfortunately, he once again couldn't match his prior success. That's certainly not what Davis or American fans were expecting when the Games got underway.

Looking ahead, Davis will need to think about what he needs to do over the next four years to get back on top, if he's going to maintain an Olympic focus. He will be 35 for the Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, but he told Reuters, via NBC:

As a speed skater, Pyeongchang will be a special Olympics, since our sport is revered so much there. Bottom line, my desire and body will be the determining factors, and right now those are as strong as ever.

Davis is a speedskating legend for Team USA. He was always going to have a very strong legacy regardless of how he performed in Sochi. That said, it's hard to categorize his performances in the three key races as anything but a disappointment,

Perhaps the results will serve as the ultimate motivation looking ahead to the next Olympics. That's the best way for Davis to turn a negative into a positive. Still, it will likely take some time for him to get over watching gold-medal chances slip away.

Maybe it's all in the suits.

We always notice figure skating outfits with the sparkles and spangles, the bright colors and interesting designs. Those clothes might make the man (or woman), but they don't affect performance.

That may not be the case in speedskating.

It's all the talk in Sochi about why the U.S. team has been blanked so far in the medal race. The company Under Armour designed new racing suits for the team. Good news, right? Supposed to be state of the art.

One problem, though.

The skaters never got to test them in competition until they arrived in Sochi. And so far, American speedskaters are without a medal and it seems they've decided it is the suit.

Now the U.S. skaters will go back to an older version designed by Under Armour, according to the Chicago Tribune's Jared S. Hopkins.

Shani Davis, a Chicago native, was a dismal eighth in one of his signature events, the 1000-meter race, and world-record holder Brittany Bowe finished in eighth as well in the same event where she had recently set that record.

The U.S. team had high expectations for these Games. Davis had won three of four World Cup races this year and finished the season ranked No. 1. Heather Richardson did the same and finished first at the U.S. Olympic trials in the 500, 1,000 and 1,500.

According to The  Wall Street Journal, the U.S. Speedskating association asked the international governing body for the sport to be allowed to go back to the old suits for the 1,500-meter race, which Davis was also expected to medal in. But even in his original attire, Davis finished a dismal 11th place.

Whether it is the suit or not, it seems to be in the heads of the skaters.

Ted Morris, head of U.S. Speedskating, told Hopkins, "We don't think the suits are having any impact but at the same time we want to make sure when our athletes get on that start line they have confidence and are ready to go. That's priority Number One"

According to The Wall Street Journal, there was a split on the team with some skaters wanting to keep the new suit. But after seven long-track events, no American skater has finished better than seventh. Both Davis and Richardson had dominated on the World Cup circuit this year in the old suits.

The Americans came to the Games feeling they might have an advantage with the new gear, but now it appears just the opposite. Whether or not it's the suits, they certainly seem to have gotten into the heads of the skaters. 

The new suit, designed with input from Lockheed Martin—a defense contractor that, among other things, designs planes—is called the Mach 39. Under Armour is marketing it as the fastest in the sport.

But the new suits weren't used in any competitions until Sochi and so far the results have been Mach Zero. No medals and many disappointing performances. 

While Dutch skaters have won 12 medals, the U.S. has none.

According to The Wall Street Journal, three people with knowledge of the situation said there is a design flaw that could be slowing the skaters down: The vents on the back of the suit that are supposed to let heat escape are instead creating a drag effect that is slowing the skaters.

Richardson, who was favored to medal in the women's 1,000-meter race, was one of the skaters who sent their suits to an Under Armour seamstress to have the panel modified.

It might be true what they say after all.

The clothes make the man (or woman). At least in speed skating.

Diane Pucin is the Olympics lead writer for Bleacher Report. She covered seven Games for the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Los Angeles Times. You can follow her on Twitter @mepucin.

The 2014 Winter Olympics have made two things abundantly clear: Germany is incredible at luge with four gold medals, and the Netherlands is home to the best speedskaters in the world. 

There have been six speedskating events through Day 6, one on each day, and 12 of the 18 medals have gone to the Dutch. We break down all the medal results by country and applaud the high achievements of one of the Low Countries. 

Netherlands

The Netherlands has won four gold medals and 12 total at the Sochi Games so far; all of those have come in speedskating. 

The nation swept the medals in the men's 5,000 meters as Sven Kramer, Jan Blokhuijsen and Jorrit Bergsma placed in order. Another sea of orange swept the 500-meter medals when Michel Mulder seized gold, while his identical twin brother Ronald got bronze. Johannes Smeekens finished between them.

The men narrowly missed a third sweep in the 1,000 meters behind Stefan Groothuis' gold and Michel Mulder's bronze.

On the ladies' side, Ireen Wust added another gold in the ladies' 3,000 meters. She also came up with silver in the 1,000-meter race, and Margot Boer followed right behind in third. Boer managed another bronze in the 500 meters, and the Dutch have an even dozen medals thanks entirely to their speedskaters.  

China

Zhang Hong surprised by gliding to the top of the podium in ladies' 1,000 meters. The result was a shocker, as noted by The Associated Press (h/t ESPN):

Many fans didn't even see the gold-medal performance, drifting in late to Adler Arena since the supposed big guns were all set to go in the second half of the session. Zhang was merely a spectator after the ice was resurfaced at the midway point, but her smile kept getting bigger as no one came close to beating her time.

American Heather Richardson had been No. 1 in the World Cup standings, but the U.S. skaters have not found success in Sochi. As U.S. sprint coach Ryan Shimabukro put it after the event: "I'm at a loss for words right now. For whatever reason right now, we are getting skunked."

South Korea

Sang Hwa Lee took gold in the ladies' 500 meters. She will be a household name in that country, with the only other medal for the Koreans being a bronze in short-track speedskating. 

Most impressively, she beat all comers while nursing a sore knee. According to Patrick Johnston of Reuters (h/t The Globe and Mail), Lee told reporters how she felt after the race: "I like it. But I didn't know that I could do that. I wasn't sure that I could get a gold medal because my left knee was hurting and other competitors had pretty good results.”

C'mon, that's just rubbing it in. 

Russia

Olga Fatkulina stamped silver in the ladies' 500 meters, and Olga Graf took bronze in the 3,000 meters. 

The Russians have found success in other events with 11 medals so far, but gold has proved elusive all but twice. Surely they were hoping for more hardware, but that's only because the hosts always hope for more. There are plenty of events to come, including all-important ice hockey.

Czech Republic

Martina Sablikova came in with silver in the ladies' 3,000 meters. It is the only medal for the nation so far that did not come from the biathlon, where the Czech Republic won silver and bronze.

Canada

Denny Morrison skated to silver in the 1,000 meters to spoil the run of medal sweeps by the Dutch men. 

Canada also claimed a gold in short-track speedskating, but the lion's share of the country's medals has come on the slopes, where Canadians have taken six freestyle-skiing medals and three gold. 

Remaining Events

It's not over yet, as some countries seek redemption and the Dutch seek still more precious metal.

Up next, the men skate 1,500 meters on Saturday, and the ladies do the same on Sunday. Tuesday starts the long haul with the men's 10,000 meters followed by ladies' 5,000 meters on Wednesday. The men's and ladies' team-pursuit events take place on Feb. 21 and 22.

You can catch the action on NBC's roundup of live streams at NBCOlympics.com and on the Live Extra app.