Meet the Dark Avenger
Combining a fierce work ethic with an ideal coaching matrix, USA Olympic Team hopeful Nick Radkewich has paved a trail that future residents should try to follow.
As new and as relatively small as triathlon may be in the spectrum of Olympic sports, it has not gone unnoticed at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. Make your rounds and talk to the many sports scientists at work in the OTC and mention Nick Radkewich's name. Immediately, they begin talking about his work ethic with raised eyebrows and exclamation points. "Nick is a very committed person," says strength coach Dana Healey. "If you give him something to do he'll do it. He is not afraid of hard work."....
...Radkewich- whose mix of severe dedication and rebelious Steve Prefontaine-likeness have earned him the title of "the Dark Avenger"...
...Radkewich, who has earned an inordinate amount of frequent flyer miles in the global chase for ITU points over the past four years, has been part of the rapidly evolving draft- legal racing format, and has drawn on the OTC to help him evovle with it. "To be able to compete, we've really had to get faster in the water and on the run. In cycling the skills part is critical now; skills that we're just not going to get working with triathlon coaches or other triathletes. We have to work with cycling coaches and other cyclists, that's what we get here."
"The differences the work here makes might be a minute," he says. "But at the World Cup level, you've got to do every thing you can to extract as much speed and strength that you can from your body."
excerpt from Triathlete Magazine, April, 2000 written by T.J. Murphy.
