- Derek Parra
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Derek Parra Personal information Born March 15, 1970
San Bernardino, CaliforniaHeight 1.62 m (5 ft 4 in) Weight 63 kg (140 lb; 9.9 st) Sport Country United States Sport Speed skating Medal recordMen'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
Olympic Champions in Men's 1500 m Speed Skating 1924: Clas Thunberg | 1928: Clas Thunberg | 1932: Jack Shea | 1936: Charles Mathiesen | 1948: Sverre Farstad | 1952: Hjalmar Andersen | 1956: Yevgeny Grishin + Yuri Mikhaylov | 1960: Roald Aas + Yevgeny Grishin | 1964: Ants Antson | 1968: Kees Verkerk | 1972: Ard Schenk | 1976: Jan Egil Storholt | 1980: Eric Heiden | 1984: Gaétan Boucher | 1988: André Hoffmann | 1992: Johann Olav Koss | 1994: Johann Olav Koss | 1998: Ådne Søndrål | 2002: Derek Parra | 2006: Enrico Fabris | 2010: Mark TuitertCategories:- 1970 births
- Living people
- American roller skaters
- American speed skaters
- American sportspeople of Mexican descent
- Olympic speed skaters of the United States
- Olympic gold medalists for the United States
- Olympic silver medalists for the United States
- People from the Inland Empire (California)
- Speed skaters at the 2002 Winter Olympics
- Speed skaters at the 2006 Winter Olympics
- Olympic medalists in speed skating
- Former world record holders in speed skating
- American speed skating biography stubs
- American Winter Olympic medalist stubs
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