Fil-Am Olympic speed skater on Solar Sports

MANILA, Philippines - Filipino-American speed skater John Robert Celski vie for the gold medal in the 2010 Winter Olympics as Solar TV will be airing the finals of both the 1,000-meter and 5,000-meter relay short track speed skating straight from Vancouver, British Columbia.

Celski came short of doing the feat in the 1,500-meter final as he settled for the bronze medal behind idol and American teammate Apolo Anton Ohno (silver) and gold medal winner Jung-Su Lee of Korea.

Solar TV broadcast the event where the fifth-running Celski finished third following a crash that ended the hopes of 2006 silver medalist Lee Ho-Suk of Korea and teammate Sung Si-Ba of making it to the winners’ podium.

The country’s No. 1 sports channel is slated to show the 5,000-meter relay short track speed skating final Feb. 26.

The 5-foot-8, 19-year old skater has a Polish father and Filipino mother. The youngest of three children, he was raised in Federal Way, Washington.

That Celski is competing among the 2,500 athletes from a record 82 countries is a story in itself.

During the US trials for the Winter Games five months ago, the speed skater out of Lakewood High School in Lakewood, California got involved in a full-speed crash that left him laying on the ice and bleeding profusely as his left thigh was sliced open by a skate blade.

The accident left him with a cut six inches wide and two inches deep, needing 60 stitches to close the wound.

But determined and motivated, the Fil-Am athlete slowly found his back into the rink and eventually, made his way back to the ice by Nov. 16, some eight weeks left before the Winter Games.

“After it happened, I knew I needed to get back on my feet, and the way to do that was not to think about it,” Celski said.

Previoulsy, Celski was a champion-class in-line skater, before shifting to speed skating after watching Ohno sees action in the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City, Utah.

The speed skater who is very fond of Filipino foods such as adobo, sinigang and lechon, was a gold medal winner in the 3,000 meter and a member of the 5,000 meter relay team that also won the gold in the 2009 World Short Track Speed Skating Championship.

Another Fil-Am in Amanda Evora was not as fortunate as Celski.

Together with long-time partner Mark Ladwig, Evora only settled for 10th place in the figure skating pair event.

Celski and Evora are just some of the world-class athletes featured in the Games of which Solar TV and Solar Sports have set aside about 200 hours of live coverage, easily, making it the most comprehensive reporting of the event here in the country.

For details and schedule info, log on to www.solarsports.ph.