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| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | 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
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Derek Parra (born March 15, 1970) is an American 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 City, 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. Parra became friends with Romney when he was president of the Salt Lake City Olympic organizing committee. [3]
| Personal records [4] | ||||
| 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. [5] |
| 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 | |
| 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 [6]
Jochem Simon Uytdehaage is a Dutch former long track speed skater who won two Olympic gold medals in Salt Lake City and was the 2002 World Allround champion. He retired in 2007 at the age of 30, following two consecutive seasons of poor results.
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