Colin Coates (speed skater)

Colin Coates with Pascal Briand 2009

Colin Victor Coates (born April 4, 1946 in Richmond ) is a former Australian speed skater . With six participations in the Olympic Games , he is one of the 19 athletes with the most participations in the Games. He is the Australian with the most participations and next to Emese Hunyadi the most successful speed skater by number of participations.

Colin Coates started for Globe Melbourne . He initially specialized in short and medium-haul routes. In 1968 , at the age of 21, he started his first Winter Olympics in Grenoble . Over 500 meters he came in 41st, over 1500 meters in 49th place. It was to remain Coate's worst Olympic results. Four years later in Sapporo , the Australian competed on four routes. The worst result was a 36th place over 500 meters, over 1500 meters he was 24th, 23rd over 5000 meters and 18th over 10,000 meters. Successful Games were the 1976 Games of Innsbruck . Coates ran all five races and always achieved top 25 results. With 25th place, the 500 meter result was again the worst result. The other results were far better. The Australian finished eleventh over 1000 meters, tenth over 5000 meters, eighth over 1500 meters and sixth in the long distance. Coates now specialized in medium and especially long haul. But he could not repeat the outstanding results in the following games. In Lake Placid in 1980 he reached 29th place over 1000 meters, was 19th over 5000 meters and 18th over 10,000 meters. Coate's fifth game was the 1984 competitions in Sarajevo . The Australian was 37th over 1500 meters, 25th over 5000 meters, 25th and 20th over 10,000 meters. After the Games, Coates ended his playing career and became a coach. Before the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary , he made another comeback in the hope of increasing his personal best over 10,000 meters. He swapped places with his protégé Danny Kah , who acted as his trainer for the race, and 20 years after his first Olympic race at the age of 41, he finished 26th over 10,000 meters again.

Between 1968 and 1984 Coates took part in 13 all-round world championships. Between 1973 and 1979 he was able to place in the top 15 seven times in a row, in 1974 his best result ever was an eleventh place in the Grand Quadruple. He achieved the best number of points the year before with 188.234 points. The participation in the individual distance world championships, where he never ran in the top 20, was less successful. In the World Cup, Coates only competed sporadically, where 15th place was the best result in a small World Cup in 1979 in Örebro .

Web links

• Colin Coates in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Statistics at speed skating news