Irving Jaffee
| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Speed skating | ||
Representing the  United States
|
||
| Olympic Games | ||
 |
Lake Placid 1932 | 5000 m |
|
Lake Placid 1932 | 10,000 m |
Irving Warren Jaffee (September 15, 1906 in New York City – March 20, 1981 in San Diego, California) was an American speed skater who won two gold medals at the 1932 Winter Olympics, becoming the most successful athlete there along with his compatriot Jack Shea.
Jaffee, who was Jewish, was born to Jewish parents who had emigrated from Russia in 1896. He grew up in the Crotona Park section of The Bronx, where he played baseball with future Hall of Famer Hank Greenberg. He briefly attended DeWitt Clinton High School, but dropped out after failing to make the varsity baseball team.
At age 14, Jaffee took up skating at the Gay Blades of Iceland rink (which later became the Roseland Ballroom). Rather than pay the 75-cent admission fee, he worked as an ice cleaner to gain admission. He entered numerous skating races in the 1920s. He finally won the Silver Skates two-mile race in 1926, won the national five- mile event the following year, and qualified for the U.S. Olympic team in 1928.
At the 1928 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz, Jaffee finished fourth in the 5000-meter skate, the best finish by an American in that event to that date. In the later 10,000-meter race, Jaffee was leading the competition, having outskated Norwegian defending world champion Bernt Evensen in their heat, when rising temperatures thawed the ice. In a controversial ruling, the Norwegian referee canceled the entire competition. Although the International Olympic Committee reversed the referee's decision and awarded Jaffee the gold medal, the International Skating Union later overruled the IOC and restored the ruling. Evensen, for his part, publicly said that Jaffee should be awarded the gold medal, but that never happened.
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