Blogtober Day 30: Bonnie Blair

Fun fact: I've had the date of this post planned out since... well, since the idea of Blogtober took shape. Yet this is the post I'm scrambling to write so I can go to bed. Irony at its finest! Can't complain, though -- it was an epic night of final Halloween costume prep. But, uh, I apologize if this isn't my most eloquent post ever. It's kind of past my bedtime! :P

Man, Bonnie is basically in a class of her own among winter Olympians. It's kind of unbelievable.

She went to her first Olympics in 1984 when she was only 19 and finished eighth in the 500m. In 1988 she was back again, this time winning gold in the 500m and bronze in the 1,000m, setting a 500m world record in the process and becoming America's only double medalist at those Games. In 1992, she won gold in both the 500m and 1,000m. This made her the first woman to win two Olympic 500m titles and the first American woman to win consecutive winter Olympic championships.

But Bonnie was far from done, as she competed in a final Olympics in 1994. She won the 500m for a third straight time, a whole 36 hundredths of a second faster than the silver medalist. In her final Olympic race, the 1,000m, she destroyed the competition by a full 1.38 seconds, the largest margin in Olympic history for the event.

After the 1994 Olympics, Bonnie continued racing. In March of that year, she became the first woman to skate the 500m in under 39 seconds. She retired on her 31st birthday, in March of 1995, right after setting a new personal best and American record in the 1,000m in her final race ever. Talk about going out while you're on top!

As if all that wasn't enough, Bonnie also skated short track early on in her career, winning the 1986 Overall Short-track World Championship. Because why the heck not?

In her career, Bonnie won five Olympic gold medals and one bronze, making her the most decorated American Winter Olympian ever. That record stood until Apolo Ohno won his seventh and eighth medals in Vancouver 2010. But while Apolo has more medals in total, only two of them are gold. So if we want to talk about pure domination... Bonnie wins. She is by far one of the best sprinters ever.

Why was I planning on writing this post today, you ask? Well, yesterday Bonnie was inducted into the Colorado Springs Sports Hall of Fame, and I got to go! Just being in the same general breathing space as she was made the whole thing worth it! She talked about how she doesn't care that her kids don't speed skate, but that she wants them to love their chosen sport as much as she loved hers. She's completely adorable. :) The guy running the ceremony was basically fawning over her, and to be honest, I don't blame him at all!

One more day of Blogtober, guys! ONE. MORE. DAY.

Blogtober Day 17: Dan Jansen

Dan Jansen's story is kind of the greatest. So, if you didn't know about him before right now, you. are. welcome.

Dan set eight speed skating world records during his career and competed marginally well at the 1984 Olympics, but pretty much everything is irrelevant until 1988. He became the World Sprint Champion and was the favorite to win gold in the 500m and 1,000m at the Olympics. But on the day of the 500m event, he got word that his sister Jane had died of leukemia. He decided to compete anyway, but fell on the first turn. Several days later, he competed in the 1,000m and fell about three quarters of the way through.

At the 1992 Olympics, Dan finished fourth and twenty-sixth in his two events. In 1993, he set a world record in the 500m and became World Sprint Champion again, and entered the 1994 Olympics as gold medal favorite. He finished eighth in the 500m but, defying all expectations, won the gold medal in the 1,000m, setting a new world record in the process. He dedicated his medal to his sister, and then took a lap with his one-year-old daughter, Jane. Oh god, it gets me every time. *sniffle*

The other American athletes voted that Dan carry the flag in the closing ceremony and he received the James E. Sullivan award for his athletic accomplishments and "strong moral character." Lol, well yes, this is appropriate.

Dan is one of THE American Olympians. Jesse Owens, Kerri Strug, Mike Eruzione, Dan Jansen, etc. He's one of those athletes that embodies everything the Olympics are about; the struggle, the failure, and the triumph over adversity. His performance transcends sports and becomes much more about the power of the human spirit than winning a medal.

Bet you weren't expecting me to get all deep on ya, huh? But here, let him tell you about it. Or take Morgan Freeman's word for it.

Like I said, you. are. welcome.

Blogtober Day 5: Eric Heiden

Sometimes I think about what Eric Heiden has accomplished and just want to laugh because it's so ridiculous.

As a speed skater, Eric won three World All-Round Championships and four World Sprint Championships and set 15 world records. But what he's most known for are his Olympic accomplishments; he won five gold medals in five events in Lake Placid 1980, from the 500m all the way up to the 10,000m. He's the only speed skater ever to win all five events in a single Olympics, and is still the most successful Winter Olympian at a single Olympics. By himself, he won almost half of all the medals won by the entire U.S. delegation in Lake Placid, for crying out loud!

Funnily enough, Eric was only a top speed skater at the elite international level from 1977-1980, when he retired. But he then went on to become a professional racing cyclist. He won several American professional races, winning the 1985 U.S. Professional Cycling Championship to become the American road race champion. And then he took part in the 1986 Tour de France. Bad-ass much?

But wait for it. Eric earned his M.D. from Stanford University in 1991 and became an orthopedic surgeon. In 2002, 2006 and 2010, he was the team physician for the U.S. Olympic speed skating team, and in 2009 was a part of the team of doctors who helped J.R. Celski rehab from a gruesome thigh injury and recover in time for the Vancouver Olympics. How do you not love a guy who gives back to the next generation of athletes?!

I'm just going to focus on the speed skating stuff because, while he's phenomenal at cycling and doctor-ing, he's untouchable on the ice.

In 1980, speed skating had already started to become specialized; sprinters focused on short races, and long-distance skaters focused on long races. But along comes Eric Heiden, who was a total anomaly as an Olympic-caliber racer at every single distance. And then he won the gold medal in all of them.

What Eric did in 1980 would be like Usain Bolt winning every running event, 100m and 10,000m alike. It's completely unheard of. And with the way specialization is today, it's something that will never happen again. Ever. To steal a phrase from Bret Hart, he's the best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be.

And, come on, he's in the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame as a speed skater and has also been inducted into the United States Bicycling Hall of Fame. How many athletes can claim they're in hall of fames for two different sports? [Insert crickets chirping here.]

Winter Olympians From Miami: A Dying Breed

February 17, 2002. The Utah Olympic Oval, Salt Lake City, Utah. The women’s long track speed skating 1000m final of the 2002 Winter Olympic Games.

Jennifer Rodriguez takes her place at the starting line.

She’s not thinking about the gold medal she won in this event at a world cup the previous fall. She’s not thinking about her two dozen friends and family members in the stands. She’s not thinking about performing well for her country in the wake of the September 11^th terrorist attacks.

She thinks nothing. She sees nothing but the ice in front of her, doesn’t notice the waving flags or the red, white and blue face paint worn by spectators in the crowd. She’s focused. She’s ready.

The gun sounds.

Rodriguez takes off. The start is always her weakest part of her race, and she knows that if she can sprint through the first few hundred meters, she’ll be okay. But in the first turn –

She slips.