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| Full name | Wilfred John O'Reilly | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 22 August 1964 (age 59) Birmingham, Warwickshire, England | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Wilfred John O'Reilly MBE (born 22 August 1964 in Birmingham, Warwickshire - now West Midlands, England) [1] is a British former short track speed skater. He won two gold medals at the 1988 Winter Olympics when short track speed skating was held as a demonstration sport. He was also the 1991 Overall World Champion. He is now coach of the Netherlands short track team.
O'Reilly won two gold medals in the 500 metres and 1000 metres at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, but was denied full Olympic acclamation because short track speed skating was just a demonstration event that year. O'Reilly won the overall World Championship title in Sydney in 1991.
O'Reilly had a disastrous 1994 Olympics in Lillehammer where he crashed out of both the 500 metres and 1000 metres, protesting about being forced to race with a damaged blade.
He was honoured by TeamGB by being given the flag bearer role at the 1994 Olympics Closing Ceremony. [2]
O'Reilly commentated alongside Hugh Porter for BBC Sport on Speed skating at the Winter Olympics in both 2010 in Vancouver and 2014 in Sochi, and partnered Simon Brotherton in both 2018 in PyeongChang, and 2022 in Beijing.
O'Reilly was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 1997 Birthday Honours for services to Short Track Speed Skating. [3] He is currently a member of the ISU Short Track Speed Skating World Cup Management Commission.
O'Reilly was born in England to an African-American father and an Irish mother. [4]
Kim Ki-hoon is a retired short-track speed skater and the first gold medalist in the Winter Olympics for South Korea. Kim is a three-time Olympic Champion and 1992 Overall World Champion.
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Charles Hamelin is a Canadian retired short track speed skater. In a competitive career that spanned nearly twenty years on the international circuit, Hamelin participated in five Winter Olympic Games and won six Olympic medals, including a national-best four gold medals. Competing in all distances, he won thirty-eight medals at the World Championships, including fourteen gold medals, and also led Canada to five world relay titles. Hamelin was also the 2014 Overall World Cup season winner and the 2018 Overall World Champion, giving him all the achievements available in the sport.
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Nathalie Brigitte Lambert, OC is a Canadian Olympic medalist in short-track speed skating. She won one Gold medal and two Silver medals at the Winter Olympics, and was Canada's flag bearer at the 1992 Albertville Olympics closing ceremony. She is also a three-time Overall World Champion for 1991, 1993 and 1994.
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Paul Worth is a British short track speed skater.
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