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As a 17-year-old, Eric Heiden
competed in the 1976 Winter
Olympics, finishing 7th in the
1,500m and 19th in the 5,000. He
then blossomed as a skater and won
the overall title at the world
championships three years in a row.
At the 1980 Lake Placid Games,
Heiden won all five speed skating
events from 500m all the way up to
10,000m and he set an Olympic record
in every one. His hardest races were
the 500 and the 1,500. In the former
he came from behind to defeat world
record holder Yevgeny Kulikov. In
the latter he hit a rut in the ice
midway through the race and almost
fell. He recovered and beat Kai Arne
Stenshjemmet by 37 hundredths of a
second. In his final victory, the
10,000m, Heiden broke the world
record by 6.20 seconds. He was the
first person in Olympic history to
win five gold medals in individual
events in the same Games. After the
Olympics, Heiden turned to cycling
and competed in the 1986 Tour de
France.
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