Skate Mania isn’t much different than it was two decades ago when Erin Jackson first walked in. The sprawling wooden floor beneath fluorescent lights; the smell of brown leather roller skates; the snack bar; and the same teenage dreams inside four walls of painted cement and corrugated aluminum.
There’s little to suggest this timeworn roller skating rink on the outskirts of Ocala, Florida, is where one of the most compelling stories of this year’s Beijing Winter Olympics all began. Or that this small town in the thick of horse country has become the speed skating capital of America. Jackson plays a big role in that.
It’s been two months since she surged to Olympic speed skating glory in the women’s 500m, becoming the first Black woman to win gold in any individual event at the Winter Games. Roughly six years after stepping on ice for the first time in her life, the former inline skater completed the all-out sprint in a time of 37.04sec, ending Team USA’s extended medal drought in a sport it once dominated and earning her the title of world’s fastest woman on ice.
