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Derek Parra, who lives part-time in Orlando, is focused on the Olympics - and a child due soon.
By DAMIAN CRISTODERO
© St. Petersburg Times, published December 9, 2001
SALT LAKE CITY -- The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 stirred emotions from deep inside Derek Parra he did not know he had.
With visions of the collapse of the World Trade Center fresh in his mind, one of the United States' best speed skaters found himself welling up with tears without warning.
"It makes you step back and realize what life is all about," Parra said. "I'm not a very emotional person, but I was depressed and I was crying. I'd see little kids in the park, and just seeing them made me think."
Mainly about the new baby he and wife Tiffany are about to bring into the world.
"I hope," Parra said, "she grows up in a safe and peaceful world."
Parra's daughter will be named Mia Elizabeth and is due Dec. 21 during the U.S. trials for the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City.
Tiffany, who lives with her parents in Orlando, is counting on things running ahead of schedule. In fact, she said her doctor told her she could give birth by this weekend.
Parra is waiting by the phone in Calgary, where he is competing in a World Cup event.
"He's anxiously waiting to hear if he has to buy a ticket and get down here," Tiffany said.
Parra, 31, of San Bernardino, Calif., has quite a story. A world-class in-line skater, he changed to speed skating in 1996. Two years later he qualified in the 5,000 meters for the Olympic team that went to Nagano, Japan.
He is the 2001 national and North American champion and won silver in the 1,500 meters at the World Single-Distance Championships, the first podium in a world championship or Olympic level race for an American in four years.
With a recent World Cup win in the 1,500 in the Netherlands against most of the competition he will see in the Olympics, Parra is a favorite to medal at Salt Lake City.
But Parra's favorite topic is Mia Elizabeth.
He talks almost reverently of witnessing the baby's first sonogram, which he brought to Utah to share with teammates. And he laughs heartily when describing the first time he went home when Tiffany was showing.
"I went to visit her and she had the belly," Parra said. "The whole time I was home, I walked around like this."
Parra stood up and put his arms out as if he was holding his wife from behind, his hands on her abdomen. It is a moment, he said, he will never forget.
That is saying something because Parra's focus at a race reaches almost an unreachable depth.
Once he eats his pack of Fig Newtons, which he does before every competition, "I will be in tunnel vision."
Parra did not get a chance to race for a medal at Nagano. After apparently qualifying in the 5,000, it was discovered a racer from Kazakhstan had been incorrectly placed behind Parra in the qualifying order. When the mistake was corrected, Parra was out of the competition Parra's family had traveled to Japan to watch.
He called it "probably one of the toughest moments in my career."
Of a medal in 2002, he said, "It's one way to say thank you to everyone who believed in me and helped me on this journey I've been on."
His journey with Tiffany is almost storybook.
A three-time national champion in-line skater, Parra traveled to appear at an event in Orlando. He was chauffeured around town by Tiffany, a budding artistic skater and the daughter of the owner of the rink at which he was to appear.
That was seven years ago. Between Parra's training, Tiffany's schooling and now the pregnancy, the couple has spent a great deal of time apart.
"It's very hard for people to understand our relationship," she said. "We haven't seen each other very much. In the long run, if he makes a sacrifice now, it will be better off for me and the children."
Since this likely will be Parra's last Olympics (he might retire or skate for a season in Europe), Tiffany's support has been unwavering.
"I told him, "You have to do this,' " she said. "Me and Mia will be there afterward."
Meanwhile, the couple will pile up about 2,500 minutes a month on the phone. Tiffany sends videos of ultrasound scans, soon to be videos of their daughter, and pictures of herself.
"I couldn't ask," Parra said, "for a better partner."