Peter Mueller (skater)

Peter Alan Mueller (born 27 July 1954 in Madison, Wisconsin, United States) is a former speed skater and currently a speed skating coach.

Peter Mueller was the first Olympic Champion on the 1000 m, when this distance was introduced at the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck. More international successes followed at the World Sprint Championships, where he won bronze in 1976 and silver in 1977. His last appearance as a speed skater was at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, where he placed 5th in the 1000 m, 1.93 seconds behind the winning time of Eric Heiden.

Coaching

After ending his speed skating career, Mueller became a very successful skating coach. He was the coach of Bonnie Blair when she won two gold medals at the 1992 Winter Olympics, Dan Jansen when he won gold at the 1994 Winter Olympics, Marianne Timmer (two gold medals) and Jan Bos (silver) at the 1998 Winter Olympics, and Gianni Romme (silver) at the 2002 Winter Olympics. In addition, several speed skaters winning a total of five World Sprint Championships, one World Allround Championships, and one European Allround Championships titles were also coached by him.

Since the 2003/2004 season, Mueller is the coach of the Norwegian team. He quickly added to his impressive list of successes as a coach when, at the World Single Distance Championships of 2005 in Inzell, Even Wetten (on the 1000 m) and Rune Stordal (on the 1500 m) became World Champions.

Private life

Mueller was married to American speed skater Leah Poulos, two times World Sprint Champion and three times Olympic silver medalist, and had two children. Later, he married Dutch speed skater Marianne Timmer. He and Timmer are now divorced.

An autobiography, called "Op dun ijs" ("On thin ice"), was published in the Netherlands in 2006.

References

* [http://www.skateresults.com/skater/show/753 Peter Mueller at SkateResults.com]
* [http://www.fotos.desg.de/athletes.php?showAthletes=all&id=1688 Photos of Peter Mueller]