Derek Parra photo by Bruce Gardner

Talking with Derek Parra

by Bill Ernst

This interview took place on December 4, 2005, before Parra revealed his impending divorce. — BE

Derek and Tiffany Parra live in Oviedo. Central Florida is where Tiffany was born and raised, where her family lives, and where she wanted the young Parra family to live. This past December marked their second anniversary in their Oviedo home after relocating from Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

On the transition from inline roller skating to ice skating
Derek Parra was a roller skater. He had been on ice skates before, but that wasn't his thing. But he eventually switched to ice partly because he was getting older, but mainly because he always wanted a shot at an Olympic medal. So he made the move. For some roller skaters, the transition to ice is easier than it was for Parra, for whom it proved difficult.

What made the transition hard?
An analogy I give people to describe the transition is it's like being on a pitcher's mound and throwing the ball [either] underhanded or overhanded. The ball is going to get to the same place, but there are two entirely different techniques to get the ball there. And that's how it is for skating. It looks the same [as roller skating], but the technique is different.
With inline roller skates, you can push early, because you have friction. On ice it's just the opposite—the longer you push and the harder you push, the faster you go. If you push too early, you skate your blades across the ice like a knife, making a scraping noise on a dinner plate—that's how it sounds. It was a hard transition, and it took a lot of patience.

Do you train locally?
Yes. When I go home I get workouts in. Not as much as I do when I'm in Salt Lake City, but if I'm home for four days, I try to do at least one workout a day. If I can get two in, I'll get two in. It also depends on the time of the year. I can't [ice] skate, but I can go out and inline skate, or run, or bike. I take my daughter out in her jogger [stroller] and I'll skate behind her. She keeps saying, "Go faster! Go faster," and I'll skate around the neighborhood with her for about an hour or so.

You use USANA supplements. How does that fit into your training?
Actually I have a very close relationship with the company. They're great people. I did some work with them before the games in '02 because they're a team sponsor. I did some individual work with them, and after that I even got a distributorship with them because I believe in the product so much. The products are excellent and I swear by them.

You've set world-record paces. Have you surpassed any of them in training?
I was skating really well about a month and a half or two months ago, then some things happened and I've been skating pretty bad. But over the past several weeks it's been getting better. I finished seventh [in Salt Lake], but I skated some of the fastest times I've skated since the games. I'm still going through some stuff and I'm just trying to work on it.

How do you feel going into the Olympics—do you think you'll do well?
I skated very well before, but it's been pretty tough lately. I'm just trying to get back on track. You never know. I have a shot at another medal, but guys are going pretty fast right now. I'm just trying to be more consistent and skate some better races so that I can give myself [more] confidence to go after it and try to get the gold again.

Will Tiffany and Mia be in Turin with you?
No. My dad bought a ticket already. My aunt and cousin bought tickets. I'm not sure about my Mom yet. It's so far away that I tell everybody not to worry about it.

You carried the World Trade Center flag into the stadium for the '02 Olympics. What was that like?
I was one of eight who carried the flag. That was an incredible moment that set my Olympics off because I was so inspired that night. Touching the flag and being chosen to be one of the athletes who did that did something to me emotionally, because the next day I came out and skated incredibly well, and that really jump-started my game.

What are your plans after the Olympics? Are these your last?
These are definitely my last games. I thought I was retired after the last one, but my wife and I talked about going four more [years] because it would be better financially for our future and our daughter's future, so she kind of talked me into going again.

I enjoy skating, but at that point I was ready to be a husband and a father because I had given up so much and was just ready to have normal life. Being away again for four years when my daughter's growing up wasn't the best thing for me, but I felt it was something that I had to do for my daughter's future. I was finally able to make some money after struggling for years—I was able to go out and do some motivational speaking and try to earn some income on the side, because skaters don't make much money. We have a part-time jobs and try to land corporate sponsors . . . Speed skaters aren't well-paid like other professional athletes, so that's the choice that I had to make.

Will you keep skating professionally?
This year after the games are over, I'm done skating. Home Depot is a great company and has offered me a job, and they have a great program to groom associates to be store managers. I might do something like that. I still have motivational speaking, and that's something that I can continue to do. Then I've done some television work with [TV station] KSL in Salt Lake, which is an NBC affiliate. I have somewhat of a job offer with them: if I ever want to do that, they would entertain the idea. There are a couple of other things in the works plus the USANA distributorship.

Will you live in Oviedo after the Olympics?
The plans are up in the air right now. I really don't know. I would like to, but I don't know what's going to happen after the games.

Any final thoughts?
I always encourage people to follow their dreams. That's the biggest thing I was able to relate to people with my speaking. It doesn't matter how old you are, how young you are, how small you are, how experienced you are in the field. You just have to work very hard at what you're passionate about, and hopefully your dreams will come true. That's what I try to teach people. You can't give up. You just have to keep pushing those doors down. As long as they keep opening up, you keep pushing them down. As long as you do the best you can do. If it's your best or the world's best, it doesn't matter. As long as you just keep being the best you can be.

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