Back in the saddle

0 Comments | Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Sep 13, 2006 | by MERI-JO BORZILLERI THE GAZETTE

Three-time Olympian Sheila Taormina is trying to make her fourth Olympic team, and the countdown clock at the U.S. Olympic Training Center entrance reminds her how many days remain until the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing.

But Taormina, 37, is keeping a wary eye on another clock. In fewer than two years -- about six months before the Olympics begin - - the man imprisoned for stalking her is scheduled for release from a maximum security prison in Michigan.

When James E. Conyers finishes serving his maximum five-year sentence Feb. 8, 2008, for violating probation for aggravated stalking, Taormina hopes that life will go on as usual for her as she trains to make the U.S. Olympic modern pentathlon team.

She said she feels safe after moving to Colorado Springs in March from Florida to take advantage of the training center's coaching and facilities.

She will rely on security staff at the U.S. Olympic Training Center, led by Larry Buendorf, a former Secret Service agent who thwarted Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme's assassination attempt on President Ford, and the local expertise and connections of John Tagert, a retired Colorado Springs police chief, to keep her safe.

Taormina wants to spread the word

about Conyers beyond the security gate

of the Olympic Training Center. She's afraid that Conyers, who sees himself as an elite athlete, might pick on somebody else.

"I'm fearful for all the pro triathletes when this

guy gets out," Taormina said. "I want them to be aware of what his name is and what he looks like. Not just the pro triathletes who are women but the men. And also just any athlete at the Olympic Training Center."

Taormina has already met with Buendorf about how to prepare herself for Conyers' release date. Tagert, chief for 10 years and triathlon sponsor, has told her story in local law enforcement circles.

"I won't go into hiding by any means," Taormina said. "I think this is the safest place I could be."

Taormina won 1996 Olympic gold in swimming and placed sixth in triathlon in 2000. Conyers has been in prison since 2003. But memories of 11 terrifying months in 2002-03 affect decisions Taormina makes today.

Athletes training here can live off-campus. Taormina rents rather than owns a home partly because it would be harder for Conyers to trace her when he is released.

Taormina has moved twice since the stalking started in the summer of 2002.

She moved from Michigan to Florida to escape Conyers. He knew where she lived in Livonia, and Taormina was getting little protection from Michigan authorities.

Lonely and in an emotional tailspin while switching to modern pentathlon, a few years later she uprooted her life in Florida to come here, in part, because of emotional difficulties exacerbated by post-traumatic stress disorder brought on by the stalking.

"I used to cherish being alone," Taormina said, sitting in the training center's athletes cafeteria. The stalking "changed it completely."

Taormina, as sociable as she is Type A, shut down.

"Even at triathlon races, if someone would come up to talk to me, I would emotionally be totally detached. I would just wish them luck and be polite but I wouldn't get to know them, wouldn't really care, and I did that for years. I think that really caught up to me this past year, where I said I can't really isolate myself from people any more."

Other than the air pistol she uses in competition, Taormina does not own a gun. She fears an accidental shooting more than Conyers.

Conyers first contacted Taormina at her Livonia home in June 2002, according to The Detroit Free Press. He said he was a pro triathlete from Flint, Mich., who wanted advice on how to improve his swim time enough to compete on the World Cup circuit.

Taormina was about to go out of town but invited Conyers to weekly bike rides in a nearby city when she returned. But within days, Conyers had already called and left several messages on Taormina's home phone, each one more unsettling than the previous.

One of them offered cycling advice, saying, "I think about you a lot," and "I think you'll probably win the gold in 2004, and when you retire in 2005, that you'll have my baby. I hope."

Over the next year, according to the Free Press, the calls turned disturbingly X-rated and violent. He sent her postcards and Federal Express packages with roses and sexually explicit letters. In November, he sent a card saying he dreamed of raping her.

When Taormina, upon the advice of police, told him not to contact her, he got angry. Conyers showed up at a Wednesday night training ride and Taormina called police, who forced him off the ride.

Taormina got a personal protection order. Before that, Buendorf, chief of security for the U.S. Olympic Committee and former Secret Service agent, was alarmed enough to send Taormina a plane ticket to temporarily move to the training center here in early August 2002.

Colorado Springs-based USA Triathlon warned OTC security about Conyers. He showed up but turned around at the security gate. Taormina had already left.

The next month, Conyers appeared at the Wednesday ride again. Again, Taormina called police. Meanwhile, Triathlon Canada was taking measures to keep one of its triathletes, Kathy Tremblay, safe after Conyers contacted her.