Skating Into History

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JERRY LAMPEN/REUTERS

Canada's Cindy Klassen skates to another medal in the women's 1500 metres race in Torino

Win or lose, Cindy Klassen defies the ego-charged image you might expect of a world-class athlete. Shy and laid back, the speedskating superstar doesn't carry herself off-ice like the fiery locomotive that she becomes when she's racing. Klassen had the engine going full bore in Torino, taking five medals, which, added to a bronze from Salt Lake City, make her the winningest Canadian Olympian ever. Although a favorite to win multiple medals heading into Torino, her jittery performance in the 3,000-m event during the Games' first week got the doubters going. In the 3,000 m, Klassen overreacted to Dutch skater Ireen Wust's blazing time in an early pairing by altering her game plan, breaking out too quickly and dying in the last turn, where she nearly lost balance before recovering for the bronze.

But the Winnipeg native dispelled any concerns after her bravissima showing against longtime rival Anni Friesinger of Germany in the 1,500 m. "I just got really wired, had a coffee, felt really on fire--completely different than before the 3K," Klassen said. At the Lingotto Oval, compatriot Kristina Groves, who would take a silver, set the time to beat before Klassen and Friesinger hit the ice, thrillingly paired side by side. When it was over, Klassen had skated so smoothly and powerfully to capture gold that a stunned Friesinger glided over to her rival and gave her a hug.

Klassen's torrid race was a highlight not just for her but for the whole team. By the time she took a congratulatory call from Prime Minister Stephen Harper, she had won four medals. She added the fifth last Saturday in what she calls the "most dreaded race," the 5,000 m, to set a new Canadian standard. And Vancouver 2010 is still in the picture. Cross-country skier Beckie Scott, who won a silver medal but had hoped for more, said Klassen's ability to meet the goals so publicly set out for her makes her performance even more amazing.

In the 5,000 m, Klassen, 26, held first place until the final pairing of Clara Hughes and Germany's Claudia Pechstein, who finished 1-2. On the podium, Klassen and Hughes locked arms and jubilantly belted out the final lines of O Canada. "It was awesome," Klassen said. "She was so happy, and we were so happy for her."

In the fall of 2003, none of that seemed possible. A crash with another skater in a corner of the Olympic Oval in Calgary left Klassen with a horrific gash in her forearm. Lying on the ice in shock, Klassen didn't fully comprehend her predicament until she began to read the expressions on the faces of the skaters and coaches surrounding her. A blade had severed tendons, an ulnar nerve and, most dangerously, a major artery.

At the time, Klassen was just emerging as a top skater, winning the world speedskating all-around title. Forced to the sidelines at the beginning of a season, unable to feel with all the fingers in her right hand, Klassen struggled with the lingering psychological trauma from the accident. She doesn't talk about it much, but the major hurdle she had to overcome was the fear of falling into the path of another blade in the corners. "I won't tell you how close she came to losing her life," Mark Wild, the ice-maintenance technician who applied first aid before paramedics arrived, told TIME before the Games, his voice breaking with emotion. "But I can attest to the courage she had to come back the way she did."

Last Thursday night, after watching her daughter receive a gold medal at Torino's magnificent Piazza Castello, Helga Klassen remembered that fateful day more than two years earlier. "When we got the call that night, we didn't know how serious her injury was," the athlete's mother says. Or how magnificently she would recover.