Eric Heiden

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Eric Heiden Speed ​​skating
Eric Heiden (1977)
Full name Eric Arthur Heiden
nation United StatesUnited States United States
birthday June 14, 1958
place of birth Madison, Wisconsin
size 185 cm
Weight 84 kg
Career
discipline Speed ​​skating
status resigned
Medal table
winter Olympics 5 × gold 0 × silver 0 × bronze
M-World Championship medals 3 × gold 1 × silver 0 × bronze
S-WM medals 4 × gold 0 × silver 0 × bronze
Olympic rings winter Olympics
gold Lake Placid 1980 500 m
gold Lake Placid 1980 1000 m
gold Lake Placid 1980 1500 m
gold Lake Placid 1980 5000 m
gold Lake Placid 1980 10,000 m
ISU All around world championships
gold Heerenveen 1977 All-around
gold Gothenburg 1978 All-around
gold Oslo 1979 All-around
silver Heerenveen 1980 All-around
ISU Sprint World Championships
gold Alkmaar 1977 sprint
gold Lake Placid 1978 sprint
gold Inzell 1979 sprint
gold Milwaukee 1980 sprint
 

Eric Arthur Heiden (born June 14, 1958 in Madison , Wisconsin ) is a retired American speed skater . With five Olympic victories and three titles in the all- around world championships , he is one of the most successful speed skaters in history.

Career

Eric Heiden is considered to be one of the most versatile speed skaters in the history of speed skating. He was 7th over 1500 and 19th over 5000 meters at the 1976 Olympic Games in Innsbruck .

1977 in Heerenveen he became the first American all -around world champion in speed skating . He defended this title in Gothenburg in 1978 and in Oslo in 1979 . In those three years and in 1980 he was also victorious in the speed skating sprint world championships .

Heiden owes the greatest fame to his participation in the 1980 Olympic Games in Lake Placid . As the only male participant in history, he managed to win all five gold medals to be awarded in speed skating. He won over 500, 1000, 1500, 5000 and 10,000 meters. Heiden was thus the most successful athlete at this Winter Olympics and the most successful athlete at a single event at all. When asked about his prospects beforehand, he said: “ I can probably win the 1000 and 1500, maybe also the 10,000 m. I don't like the 5000m and the 500m is a game of chance. "

With his five gold medals, Heiden is the second most successful male speed skater in Olympic history after Clas Thunberg . Heiden's sister Beth Heiden won a bronze medal in the same games. The Heiden family won half of all medals won by the USA at these Winter Games. Eric Heiden also took the Olympic oath at these Olympic Games .

Heiden led the nobility calendar for 1495 days and won the Oscar Mathisen Memorial Trophy four times , more often than anyone else. He ran eight world records.

Heiden, who was famous for the circumference of his thighs (74 cm), proved his versatility even after his career ended. He was a professional cyclist with the 7-Eleven cycling team between 1981 and 1990 . In 1985 he was American road racing champion and took part in the Tour de France in 1986 , but had to give up after the 18th stage due to the consequences of a fall.

Heiden now works as a sports orthopedist in the USA. In this capacity, he supervised the US speed skating team at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City .

Eric Heiden (1980)

Personal bests

route time date place
500 m 37.63 sec January 12, 1980 Davos
1000 m 1: 13.60 min-1 January 12, 1980 Davos
1500 m 1: 54.79 min-1 January 19, 1980 Davos
3000 m 4: 06.47 min March 6, 1980 Inzell
5000 m 6: 59.15 min February 11, 1979 Oslo
10,000 m 14: 28.13 min-1 February 13, 1980 Lake Placid

¹ = world record at the time of the run

Honors

literature

Web links

Commons : Eric Heiden  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual proof

  1. ↑ Introduced: Eric Heiden. In: New Germany . Archives of the Berlin State Library , January 3, 1980, accessed on May 7, 2014 .
personal data
SURNAME Pagans, Eric
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Heiden, Eric Arthur (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American speed skater
DATE OF BIRTH June 14, 1958
PLACE OF BIRTH Madison , Wisconsin