Derek Parra

Derek Parra

Personal information
Born	March 15, 1970 (1970-03-15) (age 41) San Bernardino, California
Height	1.62 m (5 ft 4 in)
Weight	63 kg (140 lb; 9.9 st)
Sport
Country	United States
Sport	Speed skating
Medal record Men's speed skating Competitor for the  United States Olympic Games Gold 2002 Salt Lake City 1500 m Silver 2002 Salt Lake City 5000 m World Single Distance Championships Silver 2001 1500 m World Allrounds Silver 2002 1500 m Bronze 2002 500 m Bronze 2002 Overall Bronze 2004 1500 m U.S. Allrounds Gold 2000 Overall U.S. Long Track Championships Gold 2004 1500 m

Derek Parra (born March 15, 1970) is a Mexican-American speed skater from San Bernardino, California, who graduated from Eisenhower High School (Rialto, California) in 1988. Parra won two medals at the 2002 Winter Olympics, held in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Parra was originally a world champion inline speed skater. Following the lead of KC Boutiette, he switched to ice skating in the late 1990s as it was the only way he would have a chance of going to the Olympics as a speed skater.

Parra started speed skating at stardust skating center in San Bernardino

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 had surprisingly won the silver in the 5000 meters, an event in which he had not been expected to place but in which he briefly held the world record before being bested by Jochem Uytdehaage of the Netherlands.

Derek Parra was selected to take over as U.S. speed skating national all-around coach for the upcoming 2010 Olympics.

Personal records
Men's speed skating
Distance	Time	Date	Location	Notes
500 m	35.88	2001-01-18	Salt Lake City, Utah
1000 m	1:08.87	2003-01-11	Salt Lake City, Utah
1500 m	1:43.95	2002-02-19	Salt Lake City, Utah	Olympic Record
3000 m	3:46.14	2002-02-03	Salt Lake City, Utah
5000 m	6:17.98	2002-02-09	Salt Lake City, Utah
10000 m	13:33.44	2002-02-22	Salt Lake City, Utah

External links

• Derek Parra's U.S. Olympic Team bio ... with notes, quotes, photos
• Photos of Derek Parra
• Profile on SkateResults.com

Persondata
Name	Parra, Derek
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	March 15, 1970
Place of birth	San Bernardino, California
Date of death
Place of death