Eric Heiden

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Eric Arthur Heiden
Country	United States
Date of birth	June 14, 1958 (age 48)
Place of birth	Madison, Wisconsin
Height	1.84 m (6 ft 0 in)
Weight	86 kg (189 lb)
Medal record Olympic Games Men’s speed skating Gold 1980 Lake Placid 500 m Gold 1980 Lake Placid 1000 m Gold 1980 Lake Placid 1500 m Gold 1980 Lake Placid 5000 m Gold 1980 Lake Placid 10000 m World Championships Gold 1977 Heerenveen Allround Gold 1978 Gothenburg Allround Gold 1979 Oslo Allround Silver 1980 Heerenveen Allround Gold 1977 Alkmaar Sprint Gold 1978 Lake Placid Sprint Gold 1979 Inzell Sprint Gold 1980 West Allis Sprint

Eric Arthur Heiden (born June 14, 1958 in Madison, Wisconsin) is an American former long track speed skater who won all the men's speed skating races, and thus an unprecedented five gold medals, and set 4 Olympic records and 1 world record at the 1980 Winter Olympic Games in Lake Placid, New York, United States.

Heiden is an icon in the speedskating community and, in particular, in Europe where the sport is highly regarded. His victories are significant as few speed skaters (and athletes in general) have won competitions in both sprint and long-distance events.

Contents 1 Education 2 Team physician 3 Skating career 4 World records 5 Other sports 6 External links

[edit] Education

After starting his undergraduate education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Heiden earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Stanford University in 1984 and earned his M.D., also from Stanford, in 1991. He is now a practicing orthopedic surgeon in Salt Lake City, Utah.

In doing so, he has followed in the footsteps of his father, Jack Heiden, a longtime orthopedic surgeon in Madison, Wisconsin.

Heiden also studies sports medicine.

[edit] Team physician

Heiden has served as team physician to WNBA and NBA teams and to the United States Olympic Speedskating Teams in 2002 and 2006.

[edit] Skating career

During his short speed skating career, Heiden won 3 World Allround Championships and 4 World Sprint Championships.

He three times broke the 1,000 metres world record, twice in the 3,000 metres, and once each in the 1,500 metres and 10,000 metres, and he broke the points world record in both allround and the sprinting distances.

Heiden finished his speed skating career by finishing second behind Hilbert van der Duim at the 1980 World Allround Championships in Heerenveen. Heiden stood at the top place of the Adelskalender for an impressive time period of 1,495 days, and won the Oscar Mathisen Award four times in a row from 1977 until 1980. As of 2006, he still is the only skater who has won the award four times. He received the 1980 James E. Sullivan Award as the top amateur athlete in the United States.

[edit] World records

Over the course of Heiden's career he skated 15 world records:

• 1500-m junior, 2:02.75 (18 January 1976, Madonna di Campiglio; beaten by Heiden)
• 5000-m junior, 7:30.23 (20 February 1977, Inzell; beaten by Heiden)
• 1500-m junior, 1:59.46 (20 February 1977; beaten by Aleksandr Klimov 24 March 1983)
• Allround junior, 168.716 (19-20 February 1977, Inzell; beaten by Heiden)
• 3000-m junior, 4:16.2 (4 February 1977, Montreal; beaten by Tomas Gustafson 26 January 1980)
• Allround junior, 166.584 (4-5 February 1977, Montreal; beaten by Aleksand Klimov 24 March 1983)
• 5000-m junior, 7:23.54 (5 February 1978, Montreal; beaten by Tomas Gustafson 27 January 1980)
• 3000-m, 4:07.00 (2 March 1978, Inzell; beaten by Heiden)
• 1000-m, 1:14.99 (12 March 1978, Savalen; beaten by Heiden)
• 1000-m, 1:13.60 (13 January 1980, Davos; beaten by Gaetan Boucher, 31 January 1981)
• Allround, 162.973 (10-11 February 1980, Bislett, Oslo; beaten by Viktor Shasherin, 25-26 March 1983)
• 3000-m, 4:06.91 (18 March 1979, Savalen; beaten by Dmitri Ogloblin 28 March 1979)
• Sprint, 150.250 (12-13 January 1980, Davos; beaten by Gaetan Boucher 30-31 January 1980)
• 1500-m, 1:54.79 (19 January 1980, Davos; beaten by Igor Zhelezovski 26 March 1983)
• 10,000-m, 14:28.13 (23 February 1980, Lake Placid; beaten by Dmitri Ogloblin 29 March 1980)

[edit] Other sports

Later, Eric Heiden became a professional cyclists, winning a few American professional races and Eric taking part in the 1986 Tour de France, although he did not complete the race as he fell five days from the finish.

Heiden is believed to hold the unofficial record on one of the local benchmark climbs in Woodside, California: Old la Honda Rd. He also won the first Philadelphia bike race in 1985.

[edit] External links

• Eric Heiden at SkateResults.com
• Eric Heiden's U.S. Olympic Team bio ... notes, quotes, photos
• Eric Heiden interview on 25th anniversary of Olympic heroics
• Current skaters comment on Heiden's legacy
• Race-by-race analysis by Heiden
• UC Davis Sports Medicine: Our Team

Leaders of the Adelskalender

Rudolf Ericsson - Peder Østlund - Jaap Eden - Oscar Mathisen - Ivar Ballangrud - Michael Staksrud - Åke Seyffarth - Nikolay Mamonov - Hjalmar Andersen - Boris Shilkov - Dmitriy Sakunenko - Juhani Järvinen - Knut Johannesen - Jonny Nilsson - Per Ivar Moe - Eduard Matusevich - Ard Schenk - Kees Verkerk - Magne Thomassen - Hans van Helden - Vladimir Lobanov - Jan Egil Storholt - Sergey Marchuk - Vladimir Belov - Eric Heiden - Viktor Shasherin - Andrej Bobrov - Nikolay Gulyayev - Michael Hadschieff - Eric Flaim - Johann Olav Koss - Falko Zandstra - Rintje Ritsma - Gianni Romme - Jochem Uytdehaage - Chad Hedrick

Olympic champions in men's 500 m speed skating

1924: Charles Jewtraw | 1928: Bernt Evensen / Clas Thunberg | 1932: Jack Shea | 1936: Ivar Ballangrud | 1948: Finn Helgesen | 1952: Ken Henry | 1956: Yevgeny Grishin | 1960: Yevgeny Grishin  | 1964: Terry McDermott | 1968: Erhard Keller | 1972: Erhard Keller | 1976: Yevgeny Kulikov | 1980: Eric Heiden | 1984: Sergey Fokichev | 1988: Uwe-Jens Mey | 1992: Uwe-Jens Mey | 1994: Alexander Golubev | 1998: Hiroyasu Shimizu | 2002: Casey FitzRandolph | 2006: Joey Cheek

Olympic champions in men's 1000 m speed skating
1976: Peter Mueller | 1980: Eric Heiden | 1984: Gaétan Boucher | 1988: Nikolay Gulyayev | 1992: Olaf Zinke | 1994: Dan Jansen | 1998: Ids Postma | 2002: Gerard van Velde | 2006: Shani Davis

Olympic champions in men's 1500 m speed skating

1924: Clas Thunberg | 1928: Clas Thunberg | 1932: Jack Shea | 1936: Charles Mathiesen | 1948: Sverre Farstad | 1952: Hjalmar Andersen | 1956: Yevgeny Grishin / Yuri Mikhaylov | 1960: Roald Aas / Yevgeny Grishin  | 1964: Ants Antson | 1968: Kees Verkerk | 1972: Ard Schenk | 1976: Jan Egil Storholt | 1980: Eric Heiden | 1984: Gaétan Boucher | 1988: André Hoffmann | 1992: Johann Olav Koss | 1994: Johann Olav Koss | 1998: Ådne Søndrål | 2002: Derek Parra | 2006: Enrico Fabris

Olympic champions in men's 5000 m speed skating

1924: Clas Thunberg | 1928: Ivar Ballangrud | 1932: Irving Jaffee | 1936: Ivar Ballangrud | 1948: Reidar Liaklev | 1952: Hjalmar Andersen | 1956: Boris Shilkov | 1960: Viktor Kosichkin  | 1964: Knut Johannesen | 1968: Fred Anton Maier | 1972: Ard Schenk | 1976: Sten Stensen | 1980: Eric Heiden | 1984: Tomas Gustafson | 1988: Tomas Gustafson | 1992: Geir Karlstad | 1994: Johann Olav Koss | 1998: Gianni Romme | 2002: Jochem Uytdehaage | 2006: Chad Hedrick

Olympic champions in men's 10000 m speed skating

1924: Julius Skutnabb | 1932: Irving Jaffee | 1936: Ivar Ballangrud | 1948: Åke Seyffarth | 1952: Hjalmar Andersen | 1956: Sigvard Ericsson | 1960: Knut Johannesen  | 1964: Jonny Nilsson | 1968: Johnny Höglin | 1972: Ard Schenk | 1976: Piet Kleine | 1980: Eric Heiden | 1984: Igor Malkov | 1988: Tomas Gustafson | 1992: Bart Veldkamp | 1994: Johann Olav Koss | 1998: Gianni Romme | 2002: Jochem Uytdehaage | 2006: Bob de Jong

Preceded by Sten Stensen	Oscar Mathisen Award 1977–1980	Succeeded by Amund Sjøbrend
Preceded by Sebastian Coe	United Press International Athlete of the Year 1980	Succeeded by Sebastian Coe