Bonnie Blair, born in Cornwall, New York, started her career as a short track skater. She made her speed skating debut at the 1984 Sarajevo Olympics, finishing 8th in the 500 m. Although clearly a sprinter (finishing in the top-10 of the World Sprint Championships in 1984 and 1985), she also took part in two World Championships, where she twice won the 500 m bronze medal.

In 1986, she first climbed on the World Sprint Championships podium, finishing 3rd. She would be back on the podium the next two years as well: 2nd in 1987, 3rd in 1988. In 1988, she shocked the world by beating the East German skaters to the Olympic gold medal on the 500 m in Calgary, where she also won the 1000 m bronze medal. The following year, Blair won her first of three World Sprint Championships in Heerenveen.

At the 1992 Olympics, Blair won gold medals on both 500 m and 1000 m, a perfomance she repeated in 1994, becoming the only woman to win an Olympic speed skating event three times. Blair finished her career with two World Sprint titles in 1994 and 1995, the last one in her home town Milwaukee.

Further, Blair won 10 World Cup titles (5 for 500 m, 5 for 1000 m), won 66 World Cup races (of which 4 in the 1500 m) and skated 9 World Records. One of these World Record was in the 500 m, when she became the first woman to break 39 seconds. In her short track career, Blair won the World Championships in 1986, after finishing 3rd and 2nd in the previous years.

Bonnie Blair is married to speed skater Dave Cruikshank.

By Jeroen Heijmans, last updated November 26, 2005