Other names: BLAIR, Bonnie Kathleen

Born: 18 March 1964

Birthplace: Cornwall (United States)

Nationality: United States

Sport: Skating

ATTENDANCE AT THE OLYMPIC GAMES

Sarajevo 1984

Calgary 1988

Albertville 1992

Lillehammer 1994

AWARDS

Olympic medals:

Gold: 5

Bronze: 1

Details

Other results:

World Championships

Gold: 4 (86, 89, 94, 95)

Silver: 5 (85, 87, 90, 92, 93)

The Queen of Speed Skating Sprints

Bonnie Blair began competing as a speedskater when she was four years old.

At the 1988 Calgary Olympics, she watched as Christa Rothenburger broke the world record at 500m. Then Blair went out and bettered Rothenburger's time by two hundredths of a second to win her first gold medal. She also earned a bronze at 1 000m.

In 1992 Blair defended her Olympic 500m championship and then took a third career gold medal at 1 000m.

Her total margin of victory for these three wins was only 22 hundredths of a second.

Two years later, Blair took part in her third Olympics.

She repeated her victories at both 500m and 1 000m, but this time she won clearly, by 38 hundredths of a second at 500m and 1.38 seconds at 1 000m.

The later was the largest margin in the event's history.