MILWAUKEE, WI - Olympians across the globe are heading home after competing in the 23rd winter games in Pyeongchang.
Overall U.S. teams finished fourth in the winter games —bringing home a total of 23 medals, but with just two medals in speed skating some fans of the sport are saying U.S. speed skaters underperformed.
“We know how hard they work," Randy Dean said. "We’re disappointed for them, but we also recognize it doesn’t take much to be off the podium."
However, despite the disappointment, short track skater John-Henry Krueger clinched a silver medal in the 1,000-meter race and U.S. Women’s speed skaters won bronze—bringing home the first long track Olympic medal since the Vancouver games of 2010.
Yet when speed skating great, Bonnie Blair, stopped by Live at Daybreak Monday morning, she suggested it just wasn’t enough.
“We need to be more competitive," Blair said. "I think U.S. Speed skating as a governing body is looking at trying to [determine] what can we do to be better [to] be more competitive."
And Randy Dean, Executive Director of the Petit National Ice Center agreed. According to Dean, his goal is to expose more athletes to the sport at a younger age, but the work won’t necessarily be easy.
“[We want to] engage youngsters who want to race and have fun around the oval to want to be speed skaters and be at their best," Dean said. "Recruiting that type of talent and those kids is going to be a challenge for all of us."
