Eric Heiden's Five Golds
Every speed skating race at one Olympics. At the 1980 Lake Placid Winter Olympics Eric Heiden won all five men's speed skating events, from the 500 metres sprint to the 10,000 metres.
Eric Heiden, 1979: Koen Suyk / Anefo, CC0
A skater from Wisconsin
Eric Heiden grew up in Madison, Wisconsin, where frozen lakes and long winters made skating a natural part of life. He and his sister Beth, also a world-class skater, trained with coach Dianne Holum, a former Olympic champion herself.
Heiden had enormous legs and a huge engine. By 1977 he had won the world allround championship, which combines sprint and distance races, and he won it again in 1978 and 1979. He also won the world sprint title three years running.
An impossible range
Speed skating is usually split between sprinters, who specialise in the 500 and 1000 metres, and distance skaters, who race the 5000 and 10,000 metres. The events need very different bodies and training. Winning both a 38-second sprint and a race lasting more than 14 minutes at the same Olympics should not be possible.
Heiden arrived at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York, as the favourite in every race.
Before Heiden, the greatest speed skaters usually won one or two events at an Olympics, three at most.
Lake Placid, 1980
Over nine days on the outdoor oval, Heiden won the 500 metres, the 5000 metres, the 1000 metres, the 1500 metres and finally the 10,000 metres. He set an Olympic record in every one. In the 10,000 metres he took more than six seconds off the world record, finishing in 14:28.13.
No athlete had ever won five individual gold medals at a single Winter Olympics, and no one has done it since. Beth Heiden won a bronze medal at the same Games.
Lake Placid's speed skating oval was outdoors, so the skaters raced in wind and cold, which makes his times even more impressive. He was also chosen to take the athletes' oath at the opening ceremony.
Life after the ice
Heiden did not chase fame. He retired from skating soon after Lake Placid and became a professional cyclist, winning the US professional road championship in 1985 and riding the Tour de France in 1986. He then studied medicine and became an orthopaedic surgeon, working as a team doctor for skaters and other athletes.
His five golds remain the purest example of all-round excellence in Winter Olympic history, proof that a great engine and great discipline can master every distance.
His sister Beth also switched to cycling and won the women's world road race title in 1980.
Text written by Shining Champion.
