Word: menyoli
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TIME: You've gotten a lot of media attention, which is what you wanted. Menyoli: I am surprised. Several months ago, nobody knew me. I had in my mind that I wanted to ski for a reason. Then after that, people wanted to find out more. I already had organizations who wanted to help my cause. I didn't know the media would take it so seriously. Right now, it's not really that good for me. I wanted [the attention] after the race, but before the race, I don't want to be talking so much. But the media...
TIME: At the last Winter Games, [Kenyan cross-country skier] Philip Boit got all the attention. Now it's you. Menyoli: He's still there. He's doing well. He's now like a veteran and nobody wants to talk to him anymore. If I go to Turin [for the Winter Games in 2006], they won't want to talk to me. they'll want to talk to the next...
TIME: When did you first get interested in skiing? Menyoli: Way back in the 1980s. I thought it was cool. It was the Calgary Games that I think they had on TV. Then I tried it about five years ago after I came to Milwaukee. People count those five years like I was a real skier or something. I wasn't. It was just for fun. I always do it for fun, even now. In those five years, I probably skied 50 times. All those years, I was just putzing around. I wasn't serious. This is serious. This...
TIME: How about Alpine skiing? Menyoli: I don't want to do downhill. I want to keep my sanity. I don't want to hurt myself. I have done downhill, and it does help my cross-country. But I will never become a giant slalom racer. It's just risky. Why would you want to go through that? I could slam into a tree and just die! Cross-country skiing has some risk, but you can't really just hurt yourself. The speeds are not high...
TIME: How has your training gone? Menyoli: It's just terrible. I'm not happy with the way that we have no snow in Wisconsin. Yesterday, it was 55 [degrees Fahrenheit]. Man. Last year, we had so much snow. This is the wrong year to go to Winter Olympics! Maybe I should have done the Tour de France. Just so you know, almost 98% of my training has been on dry land. So I have trained only on roller skis, a piece of metal with two wheels at the end. The last 2% was when I was racing. That...