Catching up with: Connie Paraskevin-Young

Barry Faulkner

The irony is as classic as it comes that five-time Olympian Connie

Paraskevin-Young earned the majority of her athletic fame by spinning her

wheels.

For while the Corona del Mar resident’s prodigious leg drive produced

the repetitive revolutions that propelled her racing bike, it was her

role in a broader revolution that continues to guide her along the path

toward a successful competitive afterlife.

“I’m among the first generation that had an opportunity to make being

an Olympic athlete a career,” said the four-time match race sprint

cycling world champion, who earned a bronze medal in the same event at

the 1988 Seoul Summer Games. “I chose to be an Olympic athlete, make that

my career and do everything else that went along with making that happen.

I had to figure out how to do that and I worked very hard at it. I feel

fortunate I was able to do it, because I competed against women who

couldn’t.”

Paraskevin-Young, a Michigan native who competed in her first two

Olympics as a speedskater (beginning with Lake Placid in 1980) and ended

her competitive cycling career after the 1996 Atlanta Games, no longer

courts the corporate sponsorship that used to pay the bills.

But her experience in the business world -- she is also a corporate

speaker -- as well as the competitive drive that made her world class on

the ice or in the velodrome, is being utilized at the recently opened

Youngs Training Center in Santa Ana. The business, for which her husband

and Olympic cycling coach Roger Young is the leading catalyst, provides

what appears to be an obvious transition for Paraskevin-Young.

“It seems to be a natural place to go and a natural place to be,” she

said. “What do I know best? How to train and how to prepare your body to

compete. Roger is in the forefront; he’s the coach. And while I’ll be

involved in training a limited number of athletes on a regular basis, I’m

a little more behind the scenes. I’ve done a lot with putting the

business together and getting it up and running. That involves a lot of

(the business dealings) I did during my athletic career.”

Paraskevin-Young said the center will provide general, as well as

specialized fitness training. She believes some high-tech cycling

equipment, including an interactive system that can simulate racing on

some world famous courses, makes the facility unique.

“It’s basically a larger version of what was was available to myself

and some of Roger’s other athletes in our training. But, instead of

having to go to several places to use various types of equipment, like we

did, we’ve put it under one roof.”

When not under that roof herself, Paraskevin-Young, 39, still enjoys

spending time on the bike. But her primary competitive outlet comes on

the golf course.

“Unfortunately, because of the level of my game, I lose most of my

golf bets,” she said. “But I love the game because it is so challenging.

It never fails to humble you. I typically shoot between 90 and 100.”

Her competitive career, which began as a skater and cyclist at age 9,

features hundreds of memories. But she considers her 1990 cycling world

championship, six years and a frustrating stream of injuries after her

third world title, as well as her culminating ’96 Olympics on American

soil, her two favorites.

“Competing in Atlanta was really special. It was the culmination of a

career and it came before the family and friends who supported me

throughout my whole career. I feel very good about my career. The Olympic

gold medal is the only thing lacking.”

Her Olympic career began at Lake Placid in 1980 and continued at the

Sarajevo Winter Games in 1984.

She then shifted to cycling, winning world titles in 1982, ‘83, ’84

and the aforementioned ’90.

Between Seoul and Atlanta, she competed in ’92 at the Barcelona Games.

“When people hear I’ve been in five Olympics their typical reaction is

‘Oh my gosh!,’ ” Paraskevin-Young said. “But there was no pro women’s

cycling association, so the Olympics was my career.”