Sheila Young

Sheila Young

Sheila Young in 1975
Personal information
Full name	Sheila Grace Young-Ochowicz
Born	(1950-10-14) October 14, 1950 (age 66) Birmingham, Michigan, United States
Height	1.63 m (5 ft 4 in)
Weight	59 kg (130 lb)
Sport
Sport	Track cycling, speed skating
Club	Wolverine Skating Club
Medal record Speed skating Representing the  United States Olympic Games 1976 Innsbruck 500 m 1976 Innsbruck 1500 m 1976 Innsbruck 1000 m World Championships 1973 Oslo Sprint 1975 Gothenborg Sprint 1976 Berlin Sprint 1975 Assen Allround 1976 Gjøvik Allround Cycling Representing the  United States World Championships 1973 San Sebastian Sprint 1976 Monteroni di Lecce Sprint 1981 Brno Sprint 1982 Leicester Sprint 1972 Marseille Sprint

Sheila Grace Young-Ochowicz (born 14 October 1950) is a retired American speed skater and track cyclist. She won three world titles in each of these sports, twice in the same year (in 1973 and 1976). In 1976, she also became the first American athlete to win three medals at one Winter Olympics.

Young and her family moved to Detroit, Michigan where she graduated from Denby High School in 1968. Young was a member of Wolverine Sports Club in the metropolitan Detroit area, which has produced three Olympic medalists since 1972. Their sports: cycling, long-track speed skating, and short-track speed skating. Both her parents had competed in cycling and speed skating and they encouraged Young and her three siblings to do the same. Young's brother Roger also gained fame as a cyclist, winning seven national championships, gold at the 1975 Pan American Games in the team pursuit, and competing at the 1972 Summer Olympics.

On the eve of the 1976 Winter Olympics, Young announced her engagement to Jim Ochowicz, a fellow cyclist. Ochowicz competed at the same two Summer Olympics (1972 and 1976) as Young's brother Roger, but in different cycling events – Ochowicz in the 4 km team pursuit, Roger Young in the sprint.

Young had her best year in 1976, when she won three Olympic speed skating medals (one of each colour), bronze at the world allround speed skating championships, became world sprint speed skating champion, skated three world records, became United States sprint track cycling champion, and became the world track cycling sprint champion.