Joey Cheek
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| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born |
June 22, 1979 Greensboro, North Carolina |
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| Alma mater | Princeton University | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 79 kg (174 lb; 12.4 st) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Country |
 United States
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| Sport | Speed skating | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Retired | 2006 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Medal record
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William Joseph "Joey" Cheek (born June 22, 1979) is an American former speed skater and inline speed skater. He was specialized in the short and middle distances. Currently he is a media entrepreneur.
Cheek's breakthrough was in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, where he won the bronze medal in the 1,000 meters.
In 2003 he won a bronze medal at the World Single Distance Championships in Berlin in the 1,000- and 1,500-meter events. Both distances at that tournament were won by Dutch speed skater Erben Wennemars. In 2005, Cheek made the podium for the first time in the World Sprint Championships, again behind Wennemars.
On January 22, 2006, in Heerenveen, Cheek became world sprint champion. On aggregate he beat Dmitry Dorofeyev of Russia and Jan Bos of the Netherlands.
At the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, Cheek won the men's 500-meter event in dominating style, recording a two-run total time of 1:09.76. That time was 0.65 seconds faster than runner-up Dorofeyev, and Cheek was the only competitor to break the 35-second mark in the competition, doing so in both of his runs (34.82 and 34.94). Cheek's time in the first 500-meter race was an unofficial world record for the fastest 500 meters ever at an ice rink at sea level. He went on to win silver in the 1,000-meter race, finishing just behind teammate Shani Davis.
He was elected by his teammates to carry the US flag into the closing ceremonies. Near the end of NBC's coverage of the event, commentator Bob Costas noted that Cheek's application to Harvard University had not been accepted and lobbied the Dean of Admissions to reconsider the decision. Cheek has since graduated from Princeton University.
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