Glen Ellyn gives two-time Olympian hero’s welcome home

Two-time Olympic medalist Ethan Cepuran’s journey came full circle Sunday at a community celebration in his hometown of Glen Ellyn.

Family, friends, former teachers and other supporters gave Cepuran a hero’s welcome during a “This is Your Life”-style event at the Glen Ellyn History Center.

Cepuran brought with him the silver medal he won in the Team Pursuit competition at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics this year and the bronze medal his team captured at the 2022 Beijing Games.

And he received an Illinois House resolution honoring his achievements. It was delivered by state Rep. Margaret DeLaRosa, a former PTA president at Hadley Junior High School, which Cepuran attended.

Cepuran detailed his speed-skating journey that began on the ice at Lake Ellyn — he recalled pushing a bucket around the frozen surface as a toddler — and climaxed with chants of “USA” ringing in his ears in Italy.

“None of this is ever guaranteed,” Cepuran told the crowd, crediting the passion of family and community as the stars aligned to create a champion. “For some reason, all this has happened, and 24 years later I stand before you as a two-time Olympic medalist from Glen Ellyn, Illinois.”

He recalled the challenges as well as the triumphs, including his appearance in long-track nationals at about age 10 in Minnesota amid wind chills 30 below zero.

“I got dead last, so that was a little bit of a pill to swallow,” he said. “But for some reason, I continued on.”

He praised his Team Pursuit mates, calling them brothers.

“We were a little disappointed coming away with silver,” he said, adding that the opportunity to race in a packed stadium is a memory he will carry forever.

Former teachers offered tributes.

Debbie Rausch, his teacher at Benjamin Franklin Elementary School, presented him two carpet squares, a reference to a school Winter Olympics simulation in which the children were divided into teams and countries to compete in various events.

“His determination, diligence, resilience, character have always been the foundation of his success in and out of school,” said Mike Neberz, his counselor at Glenbard West High School.

Among those in attendance were his parents, Carl and Marilyn Cepuran, his brothers, Eric and Gordon, and his girlfriend, speedskater Anna Quinn. Carl remembered a rival club coach dubbing him “the happy speed skater.”

“He just enjoyed doing it,” Carl Cepuran said of his son’s on-ice success. “He just liked the thrill of racing and doing what his older brothers did. It really wasn’t until his mid-teens that he thought, ‘I could maybe take this somewhere.’ There was never any plan or pressure or anything.”

“We basically encouraged our boys to do the things that they love, and speed skating always made him really happy,” Marilyn Cepuran added. “I'm very thankful that speed skating still brings him a lot of joy, because it's a lot of work.”