Thursday, 21 November 2024

    Eric Heiden

    • Contest: The US Athletic Hall of Fame - Athletes 2024
    • Embed from Getty Images
    • Sport(s): Speed Skating
    • Statistics: 1 500 m Speed Skating Olympic Gold Medal (1980)
      1 1,000 m Speed Skating Olympic Gold Medal (1980)
      1 1,500 m Speed Skating Olympic Gold Medal (1980)
      1 5,000 m Speed Skating Olympic Gold Medal (1980)
      1 10,000 m Speed Skating Gold Medal (1980)
      3 World Allround Championship Gold Medals (1977, 1978 & 1979)
      One World Allround Championship Silver Medal (1980)
      4 World Sprint Speed Skating Championship Gold Medals (1977, 1978, 1979 & 1980)
      Member of the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame
    • Eric Heiden had already dominated speed skating in the three years leading up to the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics, but what he accomplished at that event has never been duplicated.

      Heiden won the Gold Medal in the 500 m, 1,000 m, 1,500 m, 5,000 m, and 10,000 m, a clean sweep of the five categories that were available at the time. Over his career, Heiden set 15 different records, and despite competing for a relatively brief time, can make a claim as the greatest speed skater of all-time, and if that is not the case, his 1980 Olympics are without question the best ever for his sport. To date, he is still the most decorated athlete in a single Winter Olympics.

      He retired from speed skating after the 1980 World Allround and would become a doctor.

      We are proud to nominate Eric Heiden for the United States Athletic Hall of Fame.
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