Current Biography Excerpts: Speed Skating

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BLAIR, BONNIE
JANSEN, DAN

BLAIR, BONNIE
Mar. 18, 1964- Speed skater.

The best female speed skater ever produced by the United States is Bonnie Blair, the winner of one gold medal at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Canada and two at the 1992 Winter Games in Albertville, France. Blair is the only woman from the United States ever to win gold medals in consecutive Winter Olympics and the only one to win three gold medals overall in the Winter Games. She is also just the second woman from the United States to win two gold medals in the same Olympics and the first female speed skater from any nation to win consecutive golds in the five-hundred-meter race.

At five feet, four inches tall and 130 pounds, Blair is small for a speed skater, but she makes up for her lack of size with superior skating technique and mental toughness. Peter Mueller, the coach of the American speed-skating team and himself a former gold medalist in the sport, told Sally Jenkins of Sports Illustrated (February 17, 1992) that Blair is "the best technician in the world over the sprint distance [five hundred and one thousand meters], man or woman. She's real dynamic; she gets everything out of her stroke. It's like she was born on the ice." Growing up in a large, close-knit family helped Blair develop a positive mental attitude, which enabled her to endure years of rigorous training. As she explained to Gerald Secor Couzens of New York News day (April 1, 1989), "We were always a happy family. There were very few times that I was angry or mad, and it's this outlook that I brought with me to sports....If I put in the physical work and my competitor does the same kind of training, but doesn't have the strong positive mental outlook that I do, then she's going to be beaten."

Copyright © 1996 by The H. W. Wilson Co.

The complete article can be found on the Current Biography CD-ROM and in the 1992 Current Biography Yearbook.

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JANSEN, DAN
June 17, 1965- Speed skater; sportscaster.

Until February 18, 1994 the speed skater Dan Jansen was one of the most tragic figures in the history of the Olympics. For a decade he had been a dominant presence in his sport, winning world sprint championships, topping World Cup standings, and breaking and rebreaking world records, but in his seven Olympic races over that period, he had failed to earn a single medal. His tribulations captured the attention of the world at the 1988 Games, when, just hours after the death of an older sister from leukemia, he fell in the 500-meter race, which he was favored to win. Only a few days later, in the 1,000-meter event, he again fell. Once more the favorite four years later, he remained on his feet but had disappointing runs and finished out of the medals. At the 1994 Winter Olympics, in Lillehammer, Norway, Jansen, the world-record holder in the 500, had a minor slip in his specialty event, leaving him with only one more chance to capture a medal. On February 18, 1994, he skated the 1,000 meters more than a half a second (an eternity in speed skating) faster than he ever had before and not only won the gold medal but shattered the world record. "I am just so, so relieved," he told reporters after the race. "Finally, I feel like I've made other people happy instead of having them feel sorry for me."

Copyright © 1996 by The H. W. Wilson Co.

The complete article can be found on the Current Biography CD-ROM and in the 1994 Current Biography Yearbook.

Search for another athlete