Eric Heiden

Eric Arthur Heiden was born on June 14, 1958, in Madison, Wisconsin. He went on to become a physician and a competitor in long track speed skating, road cycling, and track cycling. At the 1980 Winter Olympics, Heiden took home five individual gold medals—more than any other athlete at those Games, and more than any single nation except the Soviet Union (10) and East Germany (9). He set four Olympic records and one world record along the way. Heiden also delivered the Athlete’s Oath at those same Olympics. His primary coach was his father Jack Heiden.

Heiden’s five individual gold medals at a single Winter Games remain unmatched. No other speed skater has won all five events in one Olympic tournament, and he is the only one to take gold in every event. He is often regarded as the best overall speed skater in history, excelling at both sprint and long distances. In 1999, ESPN ranked him No. 46 on its list of the 50 Greatest Athletes of the 20th Century—the only speed skater included. A Dutch newspaper called him the greatest skater ever in 2000. Heiden’s record as the most successful athlete from a single Winter Olympics stood until 2026, when Johannes Høsflot Klæbo won three golds (matching Heiden's single-Games total), though Klæbo's overall six Olympic golds were earned across multiple Games (three in 2022 and three in 2026).

Heiden grew up in Shorewood Hills, Wisconsin, a suburb of Madison, with his father Jack, an orthopedic surgeon, and his sister Beth, who also became a cyclist, speed skater, and cross-country skier. The siblings helped create the Heiden Haus, a warming shelter for local children using the ice rink. He graduated from Madison West High School in 1976. He began college at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, then transferred to the University of California, San Diego, and finally to Stanford University, where he earned a B.S. in 1984 and an M.D. in 1991.

In speed skating, Heiden won the World Junior Championships in 1977 and 1978. He claimed three World Allround Championships and four World Sprint Championships, becoming the youngest to win the World Allround Championship. He broke world records three times in the 1000 meters, twice in the 3000 meters, and once each in the 1500 and 10,000 meters, plus points records in allround and sprint. He ended his speed skating career with a second-place finish at the 1980 World Allround Champions