Derek Parra
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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
Event | Time | Date | Venue |
---|---|---|---|
1500 m | 1:43.95 | February 19, 2002 | Utah Olympic Oval, Salt Lake City |
Team pursuit | 3:49.85 | November 8, 2003 | Vikingskipet, Hamar |
Team pursuit | 3:48.56 | November 13, 2004 | Vikingskipet, Hamar |
Source: SpeedSkatingStats.com[7]
References
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External links
- Derek Parra's U.S. Olympic Team bio ... with notes, quotes, photos
- Derek Parra at SpeedSkatingStats.com
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- Pages with reference errors
- Pages with broken file links
- 1970 births
- Living people
- American male speed skaters
- American roller skaters
- Speed skaters at the 2002 Winter Olympics
- Speed skaters at the 2006 Winter Olympics
- Olympic speed skaters of the United States
- Medalists at the 2002 Winter Olympics
- Olympic medalists in speed skating
- Olympic gold medalists for the United States
- Olympic silver medalists for the United States
- Former world record holders in speed skating
- American sportspeople of Mexican descent
- Sportspeople from San Bernardino, California
- American speed skating biography stubs
- American Winter Olympic medalist stubs