Beth Heiden
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Elizabeth Lee Heiden Reid (born September 27, 1959) is an American athlete who excelled in
speed skating Speed skating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors race each other in travelling a certain distance on skates. Types of speed skating are long-track speed skating, short-track speed skating, and marathon speed skat ...
,
cross-country skiing Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing whereby skiers traverse snow-covered terrain without use of ski lifts or other assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreational activity; however, some still use it as a m ...
, and
bicycle racing Cycle sport is competitive physical activity using bicycles. There are several categories of bicycle racing including road bicycle racing, cyclo-cross, mountain bike racing, track cycling, BMX, and cycle speedway. Non-racing cycling spo ...
. She was born in
Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is the List of municipalities in Wisconsin by population, second-most populous city in the state, with a population of 269,840 at the 2020 Uni ...
. She was a speedskating bronze medalist at the 1980 Lake Placid Winter Olympics, where her brother
Eric The given name Eric, Erich, Erikk, Erik, Erick, Eirik, or Eiríkur is derived from the Old Norse name ''Eiríkr'' (or ''Eríkr'' in Old East Norse due to monophthongization). The first element, ''ei-'' may be derived from the older Proto-N ...
won five speedskating gold medals.


Biography

In her first year of high school ( Madison West High School) Heiden was a tennis and soccer player. That same year, 1975, she ran a national record in the mile for her age and ran in states for both the 800 and the mile. She attended her first Olympics in 1976, at the age of 17. In 1979, she won the
World Allround Speed Skating Championships The World Allround Speed Skating Championships are a series of speed skating events held annually to determine the best allround speed skater of the world. The event is held over two days, with all skaters entering the first three distances (500 m, ...
, the second female American to do so. Kit Klein had been the first, winning the first official world championship in 1936. Heiden won a bronze medal in the 3,000 m at the
1980 Winter Olympics The 1980 Winter Olympics, officially the XIII Olympic Winter Games and also known as Lake Placid 1980, were an international multi-sport event held from February 13 to 24, 1980, in Lake Placid, New York, United States. Lake Placid was elected ...
in Lake Placid, skating on an ankle injury that had bothered her for some time. In cycle racing, which she took up as cross training outside the skating season, Heiden won both the United States National Road Race Championships and the Road World Championship in 1980. After the Olympics, while a student at the
University of Vermont The University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, commonly referred to as the University of Vermont (UVM), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Burlington, Vermont, United States. Foun ...
(UVM), she was the
NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...
national champion in cross-country skiing in 1983 and an
All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...
n in the same sport, as a walk on in her first year of the sport. In that same year she became the US National Champion in one of the skiing distance events. She graduated from the university in 1983 and was inducted into the UVM Athletic Hall of Fame in 1993. She has also been inducted in the Speed Skating Hall of Fame. She suffered a broken wrist and a ruptured spleen when she fell to the ground in 1980 after a second-floor porch railing gave way. She now lives in California, where she continues cross-country skiing with her family. In the 2010 US Nationals, Heiden placed in the top 10 in two races at the age of 50. She has won the California Gold Rush, Great Race, and won every single race she competed in at the cross-country skiing Master's World Championships in McCall, Idaho. She placed in the top five at the NCAA Western Regionals in 2006 as a guest skier, and achieved a top 20 and two top 15s in the US Supertour in West Yellowstone in 2009. On November 16, 2013, she was inducted into the US Bicycling Hall of Fame in the "Modern Road & Track Competitor" category. Heiden's daughter, Joanne Reid, has been a member of the US biathlon national team since 2015 and was an
NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...
champion cross-country skier at the
University of Colorado Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado, United States. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University o ...
.


Speed skating

For most of her skating career Heiden was a junior, but she belonged to the world top. This meant she participated in both junior and regular championships during the same season several times, both with success. This was most obvious in 1979, when she became world allround champion and, three weeks afterwards, world junior allround champion, at both championships winning all four distances. Between those championships, she won silver at the world sprint championship, winning both 1,000 m races. Much was expected of her the following year at the
1980 Winter Olympics The 1980 Winter Olympics, officially the XIII Olympic Winter Games and also known as Lake Placid 1980, were an international multi-sport event held from February 13 to 24, 1980, in Lake Placid, New York, United States. Lake Placid was elected ...
, but an ankle injury kept her from her potential. Despite that, she won a bronze medal in the 3,000 m. Her brother swept the five men's races at the same Olympics. Heiden is one of only two American women to have become world allround champion, the other being Kit Klein in 1936. Heiden was inducted in the ''National Speedskating Hall of Fame'' in 1989. Her brother Eric was inducted the same day.


Medals

An overview of medals won by Heiden at important championships, listing the years :


Personal records

To put these personal records in perspective, the ''WR'' column lists the official world records on the dates that Heiden skated personal records. Note that the 5,000 m was suspended as a world record event at the 1955 ISU (
International Skating Union The International Skating Union (ISU) is the international sport governing body, governing body for competitive ice skating disciplines, including figure skating, synchronized skating, speed skating, and short track speed skating. It was founded ...
) Congress and reinstated at the 1982 ISU Congress. Heiden has an Adelskalender score of 178.529 points.


See also

* List of Olympic medalist families


References


External links

*
Personal records from Jakub Majerski's Speedskating Database

Beth Heiden
''Wisconsin Historical Society''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Heiden, Beth 1959 births Living people American female cyclists American cycling road race champions Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in speed skating Speed skaters at the 1976 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 1980 Winter Olympics UCI Road World Champions (women) University of Vermont alumni Vermont Catamounts skiers Speed skaters from Madison, Wisconsin American female speed skaters Medalists at the 1980 Winter Olympics World Allround Speed Skating Championships medalists Madison West High School alumni 20th-century American sportswomen Cyclists from Wisconsin