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(She finished fourth in the 1500 meter race.) Bonnie worked at the Sleezer Home in Freeport until retirement in 2016. "He's the hardest worker on the team," Blair later told Angus Phillips in the Washington Post, "and he got me into that, too. login . [5] She attended Jefferson Middle School and later Centennial High School in Champaign[6] In addition to skating, Blair was also a cheer leader and a member of the student council. 5", "Bonnie Blair: Biography from Answers.com", "Thanks to CC hockey for a memorable 3", "Wisconsin GOP lawmakers propose banning transgender athletes from women's sports", World Champions in Short Track Speed Skating Women's Overall, Olympic champions in women's 500 m speed skating, Olympic champions in women's 1000 m speed skating, World champions in women's sprint speed skating, Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year, United States women's national soccer team, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bonnie_Blair&oldid=1132850666, Speed skaters at the 1984 Winter Olympics, Speed skaters at the 1988 Winter Olympics, Speed skaters at the 1992 Winter Olympics, Speed skaters at the 1994 Winter Olympics, Olympic gold medalists for the United States in speed skating, Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in speed skating, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 10 January 2023, at 22:20. Sports Illustrated (March 7, 1988): 50. Bonnie Blair C Retweeted. [2] The family moved to Champaign, Illinois when Bonnie was a toddler. She was an exceptionally consistent skater, able to maintain an accentuated crouch and a smooth rhythm in her strides throughout a race, while other skaters typically lost time to momentary lapses in their technique. Thus, the next Winter Games would be held in February 1994. Sports Illustrated (December 6, 1987): section 2, p. 10. A year later she twice set a world record for the 500-metre event on the standard circuit. They have two children. Though the race was not great, in part because the ice surface was too warm, the victory made Blair the first woman to win gold in consecutive Winter Olympic games. On 23 June 1996 she married Dave Cruikshank, a fellow speed skater on the U.S. Olympic Death: May 16, 1976 (47) Prestonsburg, floyd, Kentucky, United States. . [29] After placing fourth at U.S. Nationals and missing the opportunity to compete at the World Championships, Blair opted to give up competitive cycling and focus solely on speed skating. She knows just a thing or two about U.S. speed skating and the rise of women's sports. When training in Milwaukee, she enrolled at Parkland College but did not graduate. Blair was the only American to win two medals at these games, and was given the honor of carrying the American flag at the closing ceremonies. World class track-and-field athlete [28] At the event, Blair won the 500 meters twice and finished third and second in two 100 meters races for an overall victory. Bonnie Blair, 68 passed away unexpectedly at her home on Thursday Oct 24,2019. [20] Blair continued on to the 1995 World Championships in her adopted home town of Milwaukee. Retrieved February 23, 2023 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/bonnie-blair. Petruso, A. At fifteen, Blair was named to the U.S. speed skating team. She is one of the top skaters of her era, and one of the most decorated athletes in Olympic history. She received help from the local Champaign community. By the time she was in grade school, speed skating had become her number-one leisure activity. Blair continued to have success on the international level, though she also challenged herself to find ways to win. "Bonnie Blair Also learn how She earned most of networth at the age of 56 years old? Great Women in Sports. Blair was touched by the adulations of the crowd, saying that she had never heard any group of spectators cheer so hard for her. Washington Post (February 11, 1994): H5. Realizing that success required both dedication and sacrifice, she gave up her spot on the Centennial High School cheerleading team to focus on skating and competitions. She was named as the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year and the USOC Sportswoman of the Year. ABC-CLIO, 1996. After a decade in the broadcast booth working as a commentator for the Olympics for the CBC and CTV, Priestner later became associated with the Olympics as a member of the organizing committee for the Calgary games in 1988, Salt Lake City in 2002, and Turin, Italy in 2006. She stopped training as a skater for a brief period, spending four months training as a cyclist. She died on 13 May 1977, in Lima, Allen, Ohio, United States, at the age of 49, and was buried in Wells Mill, Floyd, Kentucky, United States. For nearly a decade betw, Heiden, Eric Blair would in later years recall that first Olympic gold medal victory as the high point of her career. . 47 No. She agreed to go, but she lacked the backing to finance the trip. [3] She participated in her first skating meet at age 4. [53][44] Blair's daughter competed at the 2018 United States Olympic speed skating trials at the 500 meter distance, held at Pettit National Ice Center. Genealogy profile for Bonnie Elaine BlaIr Bonnie Elaine BlaIr (1925 - 2016) - Genealogy Genealogy for Bonnie Elaine BlaIr (1925 - 2016) family tree on Geni, with over 230 million profiles of ancestors and living relatives. In 1982, when Blair was 18 years old, her trainers wanted to take her to Europe to compete outside of the United States for the first time. Ye trained by watching tapes of Blair. [28], Following the 1988 Olympics, Blair also tried track cycle racing, and was coached by former speed skater and cycling world champion Connie Paraskevin. Mother of bonnie Fay wiszniewski; Private and Private. Bonnie Blair. Blair was forced to rely on superior technique and a ferocious will to win because of her physical limitations. In fact, Charlie Blair had his children at a competition while his youngest child was being born. Sports Illustrated (January 27, 1988): 236. She became almost as well known for her entourage of family and friendsa group deemed the Blair Bunch that had grown to more than 60 people by 1994who went with her to each of her Olympic competitions to cheer her on from the stands. Jenkins, Sally. She won the 1986 short-track world championship. Bonnie Blair, in full Bonnie Kathleen Blair, (born March 18, 1964, Cornwall, New York, U.S.), American speed skater who was one of the leading competitors in the sport. She is one of the top skaters of her era, and one of the most decorated athletes in Olympic history. She also represented Canada in speed skating in the 1972 games in Sapporo, Japan. Reilly, Rick. She contracted a severe case of bronchitis that affected her breathing. The coaching switch took place ten months before the 1992 Olympics. One of Blair's most influential coaches was Cathy Priestner (later known as Cathy Priestner-Allinger when she married Todd Allinger in 1986). Speed skating coach Bob Fenn told Angus Phillips of Washington Post in 1992, "From a technical standpoint, she's the most efficient skater in the whole world. At the Olympic Games, Blair had the support of her family, the so-called "Blair Bunch" which consisted of immediate and extended family members who attended a number of her more important races en masse. She won the 500 meters with a time of 39.1 seconds and the 1000 meters with a time of 1:18.74. International Encyclopedia of Women and Sports. After retiring from speed skating, Blair became a motivational speaker. Toronto Star, January 11, 1995; March 19, 1995. All these elder siblings became a canopy of extra moms and dads under which Bonnie grew up. [39] The Blair Bunch, the name given to Blair's family and friends, accounted for 12% of the crowd at the Pettit National Ice Center. Bonnie Blair At the time, Blair worked as the secretary of the Retail Clerks International Union, which has since become part of United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 1529. [47] She was awarded a star (#7) on The Flag for Hope on September 29, 2015 in recognition of her outstanding Speed Skating Career and philanthropic efforts. Bonnie Blairwas raised in Champaign, Illinois. In 1987, she won the World Cup in both the 500 and 1000 meter races. She has been married to Dave Cruikshank since June 23, 1996. 1. In early 1995, she set another world's record in the 500 meters skating on the Olympic oval in Calgary where she won her first medal. [44] At the beginning of the 2002 Winter Olympics, Blair again took the spotlight when she became the last torchbearer on the Wisconsin segment of the Olympic torch run in January. She skated twice around the Pettit National Ice Center for a cheering crowd of ten thousand fans before lighting the Olympic caldron set up at the Center. The results were impressive. In her teens, Blair began to apply herself to the sport of speed skating as she never had before, largely at the encouragement of her friend Dave Silk, who competed on the men's U.S. team. I just want to go fast. When Derek Parra set a new world record in the men's 1,500-meter speedskating competition at the 2002 Winter Olympics, h, Paavo Nurmi [31] Although she had won gold at the prior Olympics, Blair felt that her small stature made her an underdog against much larger East German competitors. By the time she was four years old, Blair was racing, and she loved it, competing against her older brothers and sisters and others in elementary and junior high school. [2] Blair's family friends in the stands, affectionately known as the "Blair Bunch," became a staple of her competitive career. Now a world-class speed skater, Blair went on to set a world speed skating record in 1987, racing 500 meters in 39.43 seconds. Blair continued to serve on the board for U.S. She also set a world record for the 500-meter event in Heerenveen, Holland, at the end of the 1987 season. "The last lap." Refer to each styles convention regarding the best way to format page numbers and retrieval dates. Blair continued competing through 1995 when the World Championships were held in Milwaukee, finally retiring in March 1995. Janofsky, Michael. Winning means you're doing better than you've ever done before. Encased in a glass tabletop in her house, Blair's gold medals have become part of her daily landscape. So, the police department in Champaign stepped in to raise money for her trip, holding a series of raffles and bake sales. . Blair was born on March 18, 1964, in Cornwall, New York, the youngest of six children. She surpassed her 1988 Olympic performance, taking home the gold medal not only in the 500-meter event, but in the 1,000-meter race as well. Bonnie Blair Sports, Goal, Physical Attraction 15 Copy quote Four key words--helped make my dreams come true. She has been inducted into the Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame, the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame, and the United States Olympic Hall of Fame. "Blair, Bonnie At the 1988 Games in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, she was a favourite in the sprint events and earned a gold in the 500-metre event and a bronze in the 1,000-metre event. [2][25] Blair's third and final event of the 1988 Winter Olympics was the 1,500 meters, in which she placed fourth. New York Times (February 19, 1995): section 8, p. 1. Denver Rocky Mountain News (February 15, 2002): 23S. That is, races that were conducted with a number of skaters competing against each other in a pack. Blair finished 0.36 seconds ahead of the second best time in the 500 meters. [50] Blair and Cruikshank have two children: a son, Grant, and daughter, Blair. In 1993 and 1994, she won gold medals at the World Championships in 500 meters. [18], Early in 1987, Blair won World Cup titles in the 500 and 1,000 meters. Cruikshank had skated in four Olympics by 1998, and he narrowly missed qualifying for the U.S. team for the 2002 Olympics. She first gained acclaim by winning the world short-track title in 1986 at Chamonix, France. ." Blair wanted to continue to train for the 1984 Olympics and beyond, but had problems getting funding for her training. Updates? Her father, a bricklayer, died in 1914, and Emma Parker moved the family to "Cement City" in West Dallas to live closer to . Blair's last year as a competitive speed skater was 1995. "Child of innocence."