U.S. skating star Joey Mantia is taking one last shot at Olympic gold

By Martin RogersFOX Sports ColumnistOver the next few weeks leading into the Winter Olympics in Beijing (Feb. 4-20), you’ll likely hear some interviews with athletes where they talk about savoring the experience, the honor of it all, and how winning is the primary aim, but not the only one.This is not one of those interviews.Joey Mantia, a three-time world champion in long track speedskating and a leader of a U.S. team hoping for its best medal haul since 2006, knows what it’s like to compete at a Games and come back empty-handed. He has no interest in going through that again.This is why, as final preparations ramp up, Mantia has no thought of going to China to have a good time, make some new friends, swap some trading pins and hopefully put in a strong performance."I’ve living and dying by a gold medal," he told me on a Zoom call this week. The masses pay attention every four years, and this year the Super Bowl comes smack in the middle of the Games."We are not relevant the rest of the time," Mantia said. He is aware there are other athletes, all highly accomplished, with the same hopes and desires as he.But there might not be any who see things quite the same way — gold or nothing — and who possess the confidence to back it up.Martin Rogers is a columnist for FOX Sports and the author of the FOX Sports Insider Newsletter.