The Winter Olympic Games is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were held in Chamonix, France. The modern Olympic Games were inspired by the ancient Olympic Games, which were held in Olympia, Greece, from the 8th century BC to the 4th century AD. Baron Pierre de Coubertin founded the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1894, leading to the first modern Summer Olympic Games in Athens, Greece in 1896. The IOC is the governing body of the Olympic Movement, with the Olympic Charter defining its structure and authority.
Claudia Pechstein is a German speed skater. She has won five Olympic gold medals. With a total of nine Olympic medals, five gold, two silver and two bronze, she was the most successful Olympic speed skater, male or female, of all-time, until the gold medal of Ireen Wüst in the 2018 Winter Olympics of PyeongChang, and also the most successful German Winter Olympian of all-time. After the World Championships in Norway in February 2009, Pechstein was accused of blood doping and banned from all competitions for two years.
Christine Diane Witty is an American speed skater and racing cyclist and participated in the Olympic Games in both sports.
Irene Karlijn (Ireen) Wüst is a Dutch former long track speed skater. Wüst became the most successful speed skating olympian ever by achieving at least one gold medal in each of five consecutive Winter Olympic appearances and is the only athlete to win an individual gold medal in five Olympics, Summer or Winter.
Christine Nesbitt is a Canadian retired long track speed skater who currently resides in Vancouver, British Columbia. She won the gold medal in the 1000 metres event at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. She had previously won a silver medal in the team pursuit at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin. She is also the 2011 sprint champion, 2012 1500 metres world champion, three-time world champion for 1000 metres, and three-time world champion for team pursuit. On 4 June 2015 she announced her retirement.
Martina Sáblíková is a Czech speed skater, specializing in long track speed skating. She is an Olympic gold medal winner and a multiple European and World allround champion. She became the first Czech to win two Olympic gold medals at one Winter Games in the 2010 Olympics. Sáblíková also competes in inline speed skating and road cycling races as a part of her summer preparation for the skating season. In cycling, she focuses especially on individual time trial discipline in which Sáblíková holds multiple Czech Republic National Championships titles and belongs to world's top 15 female time-trialists. Sáblíková is the elder sister of fellow speedskater Milan Sáblík.
The Men's 10,000 m speed skating competition for the 2002 Winter Olympics was held in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. Two-time gold medal winner Gianni Romme won a silver in the 10,000 m, while Jochem Uytdehaage wins with a world record time, becoming the first man to break the 13-minute barrier.
The Men's 5000 m speed skating competition for the 2002 Winter Olympics was held in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. Derek Parra and Jens Boden broke their personal bests by 15 seconds to win surprise medals, while Jochem Uytdehaage skated a new world record.
The men's 1500 m speed skating competition for the 2002 Winter Olympics was held in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States.
The men's 1000 m speed skating competition for the 2002 Winter Olympics was held in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. Gerard van Velde, who had finished 4th in the Olympics twice already, delivered a surprise by skating a world record and winning the gold medal.
The women's 3000 m speed skating competition for the 2002 Winter Olympics was held in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States.
The Women's 500 m speed skating competition for the 2002 Winter Olympics was held in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The competition consisted of two separate 500 metre races, with the competitors ranked by their cumulative time from the two races.
The women's 1000 m speed skating competition for the 2002 Winter Olympics was held in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States.
The women's 1500 m speed skating competition for the 2002 Winter Olympics was held in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States.
The women's 3000 metres speed skating competition of the 2014 Sochi Olympics was held at Adler Arena Skating Center on 9 February 2014 at 15:30 MSK. The competition was won by Ireen Wüst from the Netherlands, who previously won the same distance at the 2006 Winter Olympics. Martina Sáblíková from the Czech Republic, the defending champion, finished second, while Olga Graf won the bronze medal.
Miho Takagi is a Japanese speed skater. She has won a total of seven medals at the Olympics, two of them gold.
The women's 1000 m competition in speed skating at the 2022 Winter Olympics was held on 17 February, at the National Speed Skating Oval in Beijing. Miho Takagi of Japan won the event, becoming the first Japanese Olympic gold medalist in this event, and second Asian gold medalist after Zhang Hong in 2014. It was also her first Olympic gold medal in an individual event. Jutta Leerdam of the Netherlands won the silver medal, her first Olympic medal. Brittany Bowe of the United States was third, her first individual Olympic medal.
The women's 1500 m competition in speed skating at the 2022 Winter Olympics was held on 7 February, at the National Speed Skating Oval in Beijing. Ireen Wüst of the Netherlands won the distance. She set a new Olympic record and won her sixth Olympic gold medal, thereby becoming the first person to win individual gold medals at five different Olympics. Miho Takagi of Japan won silver, and Antoinette de Jong of the Netherlands bronze.
The women's 3000 m competition in speed skating at the 2022 Winter Olympics was held on 5 February, at the National Speed Skating Oval in Beijing. The event was won by Irene Schouten representing the Netherlands for whom it was the first Olympic gold medal. Schouten also set the new Olympic record. Francesca Lollobrigida of Italy was second, and Isabelle Weidemann of Canada third. For both of them, it was the first Olympic medal. In addition, Lollobrigida's medal was the first ever Italian Olympic medal in women's speed skating.
