KEARNS — Riding a stationary bike inside the Utah Olympic Oval after a recent morning workout, Derek Parra scans the venue where he and his U.S. Speedskating teammates collected eight medals during the 2002 Winter Olympics.
The dark eyes, which twinkle as he chatters, dart about as Parra surveys the stripped-down facility.
He talks as fast as he pedals — he pedals as fast as he skates — and remember, the 5-foot-4, 32-year-old won two Olympic medals and set a world record on this same ice.
The man, the emotions, the medals and the memories — Parra and the Oval are intertwined, even more so now. He has moved his wife, Tiffany, and infant daughter, Mia, to Salt Lake City to be with him as he returns to train on what is dubbed "The Fastest Ice on Earth" with coach Bart Schouten.
For two-a-day sessions that total six hours a day, six days a week, he walks through the Oval's main entrance, under the directory listing world record-holders — including himself. Some of the Oval's Olympic banners and signage still remain, jump-starting Parra's recollections.
"When I come in here, it's like this is part of my life," he says. "This is where it all happened — where that moment happened. I love it here."
You remember Parra's "moment" — the pre-race fist-pumping, the thrilling men's 1,500-meter event, the world-record time of 1 minute, 43.95 seconds, the blowing of a kiss to his wife, and the tears on the ice and at medal ceremonies.
Parra not only replays the sequence in his mind but in video presentations — some three-dozen so far — in speeches and appearances in the seven months since.
Two videotapes courtesy of talk-show host Rosie O'Donnell show actual race footage and what he calls "the moment" of ice-to-stands interaction with his wife, who had been living in Orlando during the previous year as Parra lived, worked and trained in Salt Lake City.
"I see the videos all the time, and each time I get emotional," he says. "I just live for that moment because it was so emotional, so magical — and here in the United States. You know, you can't ever duplicate that moment.
"Even if I do go all the way to 2006 in Torino and win a gold, it won't even match the moment that was here — with what happened here in this country and the circumstances leading up to the Games, the support of the U.S. crowd, with my wife in the stands — the whole year and the build-up."
Parra came into the 2002 Games as an underdog, not considered a contender since he had only claimed a couple of medals in previous meets. His first medal came at the same Utah Olympic Oval — a silver in the 1,500 of the 2001 World Single Distance Championships.
During the Olympics, he shocked the speedskating world with a silver in the men's 5,000 on the first day of competition. He added his gold 10 days later to become the country's first double medalist of 2002.
"On that one day, at that one time, I happened to be the best," he says.
With the Olympic medals, he achieved the goal set when he made the crossover from inline skating. The well-decorated inliner — a three-time national champion and two-time overall world champion whose eight medals at the 1995 Pan American Games included five golds — wanted highest-level hardware.
Parra has stretched his proverbial 15 minutes of Olympic fame into seven months of endorsements and appearances the — "what am I doing here" kind — that continue to boggle the mind.
They range from being sought out on Oscars night by Connie Selleca, Kevin Spacey and Heidi Klum ("Going to the Oscars — it's like, 'What am I doing here?') to riding shotgun as a Disney parade grand marshal ("It's like, what the heck am I doing here? I'm sitting beside Mickey!").
"One of the Backstreet Boys came up to me and said, 'You know, you probably don't know who I am. I just wanted to say, 'Great job,' " recalls Parra of meeting Brian Littrell. "And I'm going, 'Dude, you're a Backstreet Boy — I mean, how do I not know who you are.' "
Parra has relished meeting President Bush and joining the President's Council on Physical Fitness and helping establish scholarship programs with the likes of Wells Fargo and McDonald's.
Still working locally at Home Depot in its Olympic Job Opportunities Program, he landed a four-year, $400,000 endorsement deal with California's Big Bear Mountain Water Co., covering personal and training expenses through the 2006 Torino Olympics.
"But I think the biggest reward of all this is being able to meet kids, to talk to them and try to inspire them," says Parra, recalling a recent visit to his San Bernadino, Calif., elementary school.
A young girl waited in the autograph line, dropped off a note and walked away without speaking a word. Of Mexican-American heritage like Parra, she returned later and told him through tears that his achievements had helped her believe in her aspirations of college and a career.
" 'I never thought I could do anything, but now that you've done what you have, I know I can do it,' recalls Parra of her words. "And that right there was worth any medal and any record. For me, that's the biggest reward."
Parra's celebrity moments and interactive moments will slowly dwindle. But Feb. 19, 2002, at Kearns' Utah Olympic Oval is frozen in time and in mind.
"The great thing is that I have that moment in my mind for the rest of my life, which is a nice thing," says Parra, bike-pedaling in the present while backpedaling in the past. "No matter what, I'll never have that moment taken from me."
E-MAIL: taylor@desnews.com