Name	Shani Davis
Height	6 ft 2 in
Naionality	American
Date of Birth	13-August-1982
Place of Birth	Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Famous for	Long Track Speed Skating

Shani Davis is an Olympic Champion speed skater from the United States. At the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, Davis became the first Black athlete (from any nation) to win a gold medal in an individual sport at the Olympic Winter Games, winning the speedskating 1000 meter event.

He also won a silver medal in the 1500 meter event. At the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada, he duplicated the feat, becoming the first man to successfully defend the 1000 meter gold medal, and repeating as 1500 meter silver medalist. In December 2001, Davis traveled to Utah to race for a spot on the 2002 Winter Olympics short track team. Teammates Apolo Ohno and Rusty Smith already had slots on the six-man team due to points earned from earlier races, and Ron Biondo was a lock for the third spot. In order for Davis to qualify, he would have to win the final race. As both Ohno and Smith were also participating, Davis would have to beat them both. Since Ohno had been dominant in the meet to this point, winning every race he entered with ease, a win by Davis seemed to be a long shot. In a major surprise, the 1,000 m race would end with Ohno coming in third, Smith second and Davis at the top of the podium. Davis's first place finish earned him enough points to move past Tommy O'Hare, whom Davis beat earlier in the semi-final, in the final point standings and to qualify for sixth place. Davis became the first African-American skater to earn a spot on the team. However, the euphoria of the victory was short-lived, as rumors began to swirl that Ohno and Smith, both good friends of Davis's, intentionally threw the race so that Davis would win.

After returning to Colorado Springs, O'Hare would file a formal complaint. For three days, Ohno, Smith and Davis stood before an arbitration panel as three of their fellow skaters testified that they heard Ohno telling Smith that he was going to let Davis win. Since the team pursuit event's inception at the senior level in the 2004–05 seasons, Davis had never practiced or participated in the event and U.S. Speed skating never expressed an interest in Davis skating the team pursuit event. In April 2005, U.S. Speed skating voted that it could appoint skaters to the Olympic Pursuit Team who had not otherwise made the team in an individual event. Having never skated the pursuit event, Davis submitted his declaration to U.S. Speed skating informing them of his intention to skate the 1,000 m, 1,500 m, and 5,000 m. On December 31, 2005, U.S. Speed skating named the maximum allotted 5 member team (K.C. Boutiette, Chad Hedrick, Charles Ryan Leveille, Clay Mull and Derek Parra). However, upon arriving in Turin, without Davis' knowledge or consent, the U.S. coaches named Davis as a substitute to the pursuit team. In case of an injury after the team had entered the competition track, substitution would be permitted if an International Skating Union (ISU) Withdrawal Form had been presented to and accepted by the Referee.

There were no such injuries which meant that Davis was not even eligible to skate the team pursuit event at the Olympics. At the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, Davis competed in four long-track speed skating events: the 500, 1,000, 1,500 and 5,000 meter races. All four of these events were held at the Richmond Olympic Oval, where Davis had held the track record in the 1,000 and 1,500 meter races, setting those records in 2009. Davis won the 1,000–meter men's speed skating event, becoming the first man to win back-to-back 1,000–meter Olympic speed skating gold medals and the only gold medal for speed skating from the United States at these games. Davis won in 1 minute and 8.94 seconds, finishing just 18/100ths of a second quicker than his rival, South Korea's Mo Tae-Bum. Davis won a silver medal at the 1,500m distance, being defeated for the gold medal by Mark Tuitert of the Netherlands Davis finished 12th in the 5,000 meters and withdrew after a poor first race in the 500 meters.