Bonnie Blair

Success under pressure is the measure of a true Champion.  There are numerous winners in the world of sports but the celebrated athletes are the few who meet the challenge of pressure time after time.  Bonnie Blair is undoubtedly celebrated as the speedskater who produces her best performance when it counts the most.

Her first Olympic games were in Sarajevo in 1984 where she placed 8^th in the 500 meters.  Four years later in Calgary, Canada she captured her first gold medal in world record time, followed by a bronze in the 1000 meters.

In Albertville, France her third Olympic games, she won both the 500 meters and 1000 meters, where she became the first American female to win back to back gold medals in the same event.

Bonnie was victorious again in her last Olympic Games in Lillihammer, Norway, where she again won both the 500 and 1000 meters becoming the winningest Winter Olympian in US history with 6 medals (5 Gold, 1 Bronze).  She is 2^nd in total medals 8, won by Apolo Anton Ohno.  She also became the winningest US female Olympian Winter or Summer.

She was named sports Illustrated Female Athlete of the year in 1994, as well as 1994 Female Athlete of the year award from Associated Press.  She was also presented with the Sullivan Award, given to the top amateur athlete.

She retired from the sport in 1995 after winning the World Championships in what is now her hometown Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  In 1996 she married four time Olympian David Cruikshank and they have two children, a son name Grant, and a daughter named Blair.

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