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Morning News

Last Place Victory at the Senior Winter Olympics

Aired March 3, 2000 - 9:56 a.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Winning is not the goal for a Wisconsin woman. Her competition is more personal than that.

DONNA KELLEY, CNN ANCHOR: CNN's Brian Cabell takes a look at a unique quest at the Senior Olympic trials.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN CABELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Fifty-three-year- old Rosemary Poetzel (ph) has started a journey.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 3, 2, 1...

CABELL: It's not a race for her, but a journey. Sure, it's a 10K at the Senior Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, but she has no illusions about winning.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think I can look dignified. I think I'm going to ski as long as I can possibly ski and hopefully, before dark, I'll finish.

CABELL: She drove here, all alone, 900 miles from Wisconsin, to compete. The other skiers, the athletic ones, lap her with ease, but Rosemary, using a pair of 30-year-old skis she pulled out of her closet, doesn't quit. She's been a legal secretary by day, a music teacher by night, worked lots of overtime. Not only that, but for 20 years she was busy caring for her ailing mother.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There really wasn't any time. She died at home and I thought it was time to take care of me now.

CABELL: And that's what she's doing, as she trudges along, step by step, on her 10K.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good job, Rosemary, way to go!

CABELL: She probably didn't hear that. You see, she's been losing her hearing over the years. She's now 80 percent deaf. That's no problem, however, for a cross country skier.

An hour into the race, the others finish, smile and congratulate one another. Rosemary isn't even close.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If she finishes, she's going to get a sense of satisfaction out of it, and that's what it's all about for her. That's what these games are all about. We're not trying to produce champions. We're trying to get people involved in athletics. She's obviously very involved, maybe more so than the athlete who does it every day.

CABELL: The sun sinks lower in the sky and finally Rosemary, maintaining an even pace, nears the finish. Her time? 2 hours, 10 minutes, and now she feels...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Pain!

CABELL: There's also, of course, a sense of triumph.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But I'm late for the snowshoe races.

CABELL: Remarkably, she's not done for the day. She came here to snowshoe as well. Rosemary Poetzel's journey continues.

Brian Cabell, CNN, Lake Placid, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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