The skinny on Joey Cheek? He could help U.S. team contend

KEARNS, Utah -- The way Joey Cheek eats, it's a wonder he has any time for skating.

The U.S. Olympian begins his day with a couple bowls of oats, several eggs and some fruit. At lunch, he moves on to a big helping of pasta, salad, soup, pizza and maybe a sandwich or two. For dinner, he'll look for the biggest steak on the menu and gobble up plenty of rice along with it.

Of course, there are always between-meal snacks.

"When I was a junior, I used to go to Denny's and order two meals," Cheek recalled. "I was always super thin."

The 22-year-old Cheek has bulked up for the Salt Lake City Games, though he still looks a bit skinny next to all those hefty speedskaters he'll be competing against.

Nevertheless, he could be one of the medal surprises at the Utah Olympic Oval, a blonde-haired, ex-inliner from Greensboro, N.C., who has made significant strides over the past year.

At the American trials in December, Cheek set national records in the 500 and 1,000 meters and barely missed another mark while winning the 1,500. He followed up by finishing seventh at the World Sprint Championships in Norway last month.

"This kid is on the way up," said Mike Crowe, the U.S. sprint coach. "Basically, he's been progressing every time he steps on the ice. We've been waiting, knowing it could happen at any time."

The sport has moved indoors for the Olympics, helping to increase speeds but causing some of the bulkier skaters to have trouble negotiating the turns.

"The last couple of years, the sport has gotten more technical," Cheek said. "You're going to see more of the lean guys."

He was too thin to compete with the heavier, stronger skaters so the 6-foot-1 Cheek added 15 to 20 pounds during his rise to prominence, bringing him up to nearly 190 pounds.

"I could always skate technically well, but I was not strong enough," Cheek said. "The stronger I got, the results got better and better."

Hard training and a voracious metabolism call for Cheek to consume 5,000 to 6,000 calories a day just to keep the weight on. A switch from all-around skating to the sprints also helped him become more competitive.

Cheek made the change during the 1999-00 season, after struggling just to qualify for World Cup events at the longer distances.

"I was pretty bummed out," he said. "I went to the sprints on a lark and actually made the World Sprint Championships. I thought, 'Hey, maybe I've got a shot at this."'

Last season, Cheek began to show he could hang with the top skaters. At a World Cup event in Germany, he led Jan Bos of the Netherlands for much of a 1,000 race before fading at the end.

Cheek told himself: "Oh my God, I ran with Jan Bos and almost beat him."

"It just got better and better from there," he added.

While growing up in Greensboro, N.C., Cheek began inline skating at age 10. Six years later, after setting national junior records, he decided to make the change to ice. So, he packed his bags and moved to Calgary.

"I needed something of a change," Cheek said.

Speedskating, however, is hardly a glamorous life -- especially for an up-and-coming American. At 19, Cheek and another skater shared a one-bedroom apartment in a seedy Milwaukee neighborhood. They didn't have any furniture, so Cheek slept on a sleeping bag. One day, he went outside to find his car had been stolen.

"It was a 1984 Riviera, so it wasn't like they stole a BMW," Cheek said, managing a smile. "Some kid took it out on a joyride. They found it all geeked out about a week later. I was pretty miserable."

Kip Carpenter, who'll also be competing for the Americans, remembers another thing that was missing from Cheek's apartment.

"He didn't have any plates," Carpenter said. "I went to McDonald's and brought him home some plates. We've been friends ever since."

Maybe Cheek will soon have a medal to display for his guests.

"I see no reason why he can't," Crowe said. "He's full of confidence and he's getting better every week."