CALGARY -- Cindy Klassen isn't ready to quit.
While the most decorated speedskater in Canada's history admits she grapples with the question of when to retire, her answer right now is "not now."
"There are times where I do have to wrestle with it for sure," Klassen said Wednesday at the Olympic Oval in Calgary. "Right now, I feel like I should be here."
The 32-year-old owns six Olympic medals, tying her with fellow Winnipeger Clara Hughes for the most by a Canadian. Hughes, 39, won her six in the sports of speedskating and cycling and has recently retired from the ice to get back on the bike.
Klassen says when she goes home to Manitoba and spends time with her family at their cottage northeast of Winnipeg, it's harder to come back to Calgary and train. But she's also not ready to leave the lifestyle of an elite athlete.
"Sometimes I think if I would stop, it's the last time I'll be travelling with the team, going to training camps and doing (bike) rides with the group," she said. "It's very unique and something I can't come back to once I'm done. It's not something that's easy to give up."
Klassen now decides year to year if she wants to skate another season. She vows she'd stop competing after the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, "if I get that far."
Klassen won five of her medals -- a gold, two silver and two bronze -- at the 2006 Olympics in Turin, Italy, prompting International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge to dub her "the woman of the Games." She'd also won a bronze at the 2002 Winter Games.
Klassen was untouchable the 2005-06 season, setting world records in the 1,000, 1,500 and 3,000 that still stand today.
Surgery on both knees and near-tragedy in her family cost her almost two seasons of training and racing heading into the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver and Whistler, B.C.
Klassen's sister Lisa miraculously survived when her car slid on ice and plunged 15 metres off a bridge into Winnipeg's Red River on Feb. 5, 2008. Klassen rushed home from Berlin to be at her sister's side and took the rest of the racing season off.
Klassen had double knee surgery that summer, which wiped out the 2008-09 season. Klassen was a longshot for a medal in Vancouver and didn't finish in the top 10 in any race in Vancouver.
The question Klassen is often asked, why keep competing when she's not likely to reach the heights of 2006? Her knees may never be the same, but that doesn't mean Klassen still can't skate fast.
Klassen, Christine Nesbitt and Brittany Schussler combined to win gold in team pursuit at the world championships earlier this year. Klassen returned to the World Cup podium last season for the first time since 2008 and finished in the top 10 in her three races at the world championship.
"I want to see what I can do," she said. "2006 was a very special year. Everything clicked every time I stepped on the ice, but I would like to see how well I can do.
"I was happy with last year. It was a lot better than the previous year so I'll see if I can improve on it this year."
Klassen trained alongside and idolized two-time Olympic champion Catriona Le May Doan and double silver medallist Susan Auch early in her career. Now, she's that athlete for skaters like Nesbitt, who won Olympic gold in 2010.
"I get made fun of a lot because I'm the old one in the group," Klassen laughed. "It's crazy how fast it goes by. One thing I want to do is really enjoy every moment of it. I'm almost at the end."
A devout Mennonite, Klassen is pondering returning to Winnipeg to work for her church when she retires. She's also relying on her faith to help her decide when to take the speed skates off for good.
"It's something I pray about a lot because it could be in the middle of the season and I'll feel like God's pointing me in another direction," she said.
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