Eric Heiden
Heiden in 2007
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| Birth name | Eric Arthur Heiden | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality | American | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born |
June 14, 1958 Madison, Wisconsin |
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| Height | 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 84 kg (185 lb) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Country | USA | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Speed skating | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Achievements and titles | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal best(s) | 500 m: 37.63 (1980) 1000 m: 1:13.60 (1980) 1500 m: 1:54.79 (1980) 3000 m: 4:06.47 (1980) 5000 m: 6:59.15 (1979) 10 000 m: 14:28.13 (1980) |
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Medal record
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Eric Arthur Heiden (born June 14, 1958) is an American former long track speed skater, road cyclist and track cyclist. Heiden won an unprecedented five individual gold medals, and set four Olympic records and one world record at the 1980 Winter Olympic Games in Lake Placid, New York, United States. He was the most successful athlete at those Olympic Games, single-handedly winning more gold medals than all nations except for the Soviet Union (10) and East Germany (9). Indeed, he is the most successful Winter Olympian from a single edition of any Winter Olympics. He also delivered the Athlete's Oath at those same 1980 Games.
Heiden is an icon in the speed skating community. His victories are significant as few speed skaters (and athletes in general) have won competitions in both sprint and long-distance events. Heiden is the only athlete in the history of speed skating to have won all five events in a single Olympic tournament and the only one to have won a gold medal in all events. He is considered by some to be the best overall speedskater (short and long distances) in the sport's history. Heiden ranked No. 46 in ESPN's SportsCentury 50 Greatest Athletes of the 20th Century in 1999, the only speed skater to make the list; in 2000, a Dutch newspaper called him the greatest skater ever.
His sister, Beth Heiden, is also an accomplished cyclist, speedskater and cross-country skier. In Heiden's hometown of Shorewood Hills, Wisconsin (a suburb of Madison), Eric and his sister Beth were the driving forces behind the creation of the "Heiden Haus", a small outpost where local children can warm up after skating or playing hockey on the ice rink (complete with underground clay platform).
After his sports career, Heiden became a physician, and as of 2012 is the team doctor for the BMC Racing Team.
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