Shani Davis feels the need for speed. Speed skating, that is. Davis, 23, is the first black athlete to qualify for a U.S. Olympic speed-skating team. He will be racing in the long-track event. The Chicago native, who holds the world record for the 1,000-meter race, began blazing across the ice at age 6.
"A lot of kids made fun of (this sport) because it wasn't a thing you could do to get rich," Davis told TIME. But now that he's a favorite to win a gold medal at the 2006 Games in Turin, no one is laughing anymore.