Derek Parra

Derek Parra
Personal information
Born (1970-03-15) March 15, 1970
San Bernardino, California
Height 1.62 m (5 ft 4 in)
Weight 63 kg (139 lb; 9.9 st)
Sport
Country  United States
Sport Speed skating
Medal record
Men's speed skating
Representing the  United States
Olympic Games
2002 Salt Lake City 1500 m
2002 Salt Lake City 5000 m
World Single Distance Championships
2001 Salt Lake City 1500 m
World Allround Championships
2002 Heerenveen Overall
U.S. Allrounds
2000 Overall
U.S. Long Track Championships
2004 1500 m

Derek Parra (born March 15, 1970) is an American of Mexican Native American descent. inline skater and speed skater from San Bernardino, California, who graduated from Eisenhower High School in Rialto, California, in 1988. Parra won two medals at the 2002 Winter Olympics, held in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Parra's most successful season was from 2001 to 2002. At the 2002 Winter Olympics, he took the gold in the 1500 meters, an event in which he had been expected to do well but faced a deep pool of competition. Before that, he won the silver in the 5000 meters being bested by Jochem Uytdehaage of the Netherlands. He has worked part-time in Home Depot's gardening department in West Valley, Utah.[1] In his book, Reflections in the Ice, Parra recounts pursuing his dream of becoming an inline skater at 17, working at McDonald's in Tampa, Florida, and being so poor he had to eat out of the trash.[1][2]

Parra was selected to take over as U.S. speed skating national all-around coach for the 2010 Olympics.

He appears in a Restore Our Future television ad endorsing Republican Mitt Romney in the 2012 U.S. presidential election and spoke at the 2012 Republican National Convention.

Records

Personal records

Personal records[3]
Men's speed skating
Event Result Date Location Notes
500 m 35.88 December 18, 2001 Utah Olympic Oval, Salt Lake City
1000 m 1:08.87 January 11, 2003 Utah Olympic Oval, Salt Lake City
1500 m 1:43.95 February 19, 2002 Utah Olympic Oval, Salt Lake City World record until beaten by Shani Davis on January 9, 2005.[4]
Still Olympic record.[5][6]
3000 m 3:46.14 February 3, 2002 Utah Olympic Oval, Salt Lake City
5000 m 6:17.98 February 9, 2002 Utah Olympic Oval, Salt Lake City
10000 m 13:33.44 February 22, 2002 Utah Olympic Oval, Salt Lake City

World records

EventTimeDateVenue
1500 m1:43.95February 19, 2002Utah Olympic Oval, Salt Lake City
Team pursuit3:49.85November 8, 2003Vikingskipet, Hamar
Team pursuit3:48.56November 13, 2004Vikingskipet, Hamar

Source: SpeedSkatingStats.com[7]

References

  1. 1 2 Dettmann, Nick (December 19, 2004). "Parra adapting to life as 'Average Joe'". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
  2. ↑ Parra, Derek; Quinn, Patrick (2003). Reflections in the Ice: Inside the Heart and Mind of an Olympic Champion. Discovery Bay, CA: Podium Pub. ISBN 978-1-932618-00-6.
  3. ↑ "Derek Parra". www.speedskatingresults.com. Retrieved August 29, 2012.
  4. ↑ "Evolution of the world record 1500 meters Men". www.speedskatingstats.com. Retrieved June 4, 2014.
  5. ↑ "Olympic Records". www.speedskatingresults.com. Retrieved June 5, 2014.
  6. ↑ "National Records – United States (USA)". www.speedskatingresults.com. Retrieved December 26, 2013.
  7. ↑ "Derek Parra". www.speedskatingstats.com. Retrieved August 29, 2012.


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