Promise to Dying Sister From Olympic Legend Hits Ernie Johnson With Flood of “Unforgettable” Emotions

It has been more than three decades, but Ernie Johnson still remembers! The story of speed skater Dan Jansen’s historic achievement after crushing defeats isn’t one to be forgotten so easily. The world remembers, and so does the TNT host. As social media rolled back the memories of the athlete who overcame all his mental battles and struggled hard to keep his sister’s promise, Johnson paid tribute to the legend with his kind words.

An X user reposted NBC’s post on Jansen and had a request. The Inside the NBA host, who must have come across the post, quickly opened up about it. “Never give up. Dan Jansen’s triumph at the 1994 Winter Olympics fulfilled a promise made to his dying sister six years prior,” NBC captioned it. 

Johnson wrote, “It was an unforgettable moment in Norway. Fortunate enough to call it on TNT as we teamed up with CBS on the Olympic coverage.” It’s the year 1994. Jansen had won the second World Sprint Championship title and was looking forward to his one chance to win a gold medal. Jansen had already set a world record in the 500-meter event in 1993. He finished eighth in the 500-meter in the next and first in the 1,000-meter event, winning the gold medal in 1994 in Lillehammer.

He was bestowed with the 1994 James E. Sullivan Award, and his fellow Olympians chose him to bear the U.S. flag at the closing ceremony of the 1994 Winter Olympics. Later in 1995, he was elected to the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame and, finally, to the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame in 2005. However, before this long list of achievements, he had to overcome his personal battles. He was heartbroken after the passing of his dear sister, Jane.

Dan Jansen recounted the mental battle

Jane was his older sister, who had suffered from leukemia. After a long battle, she took her last breath on February 14, 1988. It was also Jansen’s second Olympic Games, and losing his dearest sister was tough on him. While he followed what his sister would have wanted him to do, the tragedy had already broken his heart and concentration. 

“It was a mental battle for me. What if I go out there and win and people think I don’t care? When you’re getting ready for the race in the Olympics, that’s not the mindset you should have. We decided as a family about what would Jane want. She would have felt so bad if I didn’t go out there and try. She knew this was my dream and this was my life at the time and I worked so hard to get where I was,” Jansen recounted. He didn’t win a gold medal. But his efforts were appreciated, and he received the Olympic Spirit Award.

However, his will to achieve great heights to honor his sister wasn’t lost. And we already saw what he was capable of. He has two daughters from his marriage to his wife, Robin Wicker. His eldest daughter was named Jane after his sister, and the other, Olivia. Later, he married Karen Palacios.

To honor his sister, he also founded the Dan Jansen Foundation. Explaining his purpose for the foundation, he started, “Although my speed skating career came to a happy ending, when I retired it was time that I give back as I had promised myself as much back when my sister passed away.” His story still moves people’s hearts.