Bonnie Blair Wins Six Olympic Medals.

Bonnie Blair Wins Six Olympic Medals. American speed skater Bonnie Blair racked up a total of five Olympic gold medals and one bronze medal over her career. The following article details the races that earned her the most gold medals of any American woman athlete in the history of the Olympic Games. . Bonnie Blair Wins Six Olympic Medals To support speed skater Bonnie Blair's career and raise money for her training, police officers in Blair's hometown of Champaign, Illinois, sold T-shirts, cookies, and bumper stickers. Professional basketball player Jack Sikma chipped in $1500. Once Blair made it to the Olympics, a boisterous entourage known as The Blair Bunch--wearing gold lamé hats and matching sweatshirts--cheered her around every turn. Whenever Bonnie the Blur returned home victorious, parades and parties invariably ensued. This support system held together for more than 15 years, long enough and strong enough for Blair to capture five Olympic gold medals--more than any other American woman in history. Along with a bronze, her career total of six medals was a record for an American competing in the Winter Games. "A lot of people think I'm under a lot of pressure with my family and friends spending all that money to follow me around," she once said, according to 100 Great Moments in Olympic History by Bud Greenspan. "But, you know, they don't care whether I win or lose. They'd come anyway, 'cause we're one big happy family that's having lots of fun." The Blair Bunch never had as much fun as on a Wednesday afternoon in Norway in the winter of 1994. At a place called the Vikingskipet ("Viking Ship Arena") in a town called Hamar, Blair edged Anke Baier from Germany by 1.38 seconds in the 1000-meter sprint to capture her record fifth gold medal. Afterwards, tears flowed from Blair's eyes as she thought back on her long career. "I can't even remember learning how to skate," she told the New York Times. "It comes almost as naturally to me as walking." In 1985 Blair captured her first of seven consecutive United States sprint championships. Two years after that she posted her first world record--39.43 seconds in the 500 meters. Then, a year later at the 1988 Olympics in Calgary, Canada, she earned her first gold medal. After watching East Germany's Christa Rothenburger register a world-record time of 39.12 seconds, Blair calmed herself by eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and then bested that mark by two-hundredths of a second to claim the gold. The margin of victory was less than the length of a skate blade. She went on to earn a bronze in the 1000-meter sprint and finish fourth in the 1500 meters. At the Games' closing ceremonies Blair carried the United States flag in honor of her accomplishments during the Games. Blair pushed her gold-medal count to three at the 1992 Olympics in Albertville, France. In foggy conditions on a melting track, she narrowly defeated China's Ye Qiaobo in the 500- and 1000-meter sprints. The combined margin of victory was just two-tenths of a second. Blair thus became the first woman to win the 500 meters in two consecutive Olympics. Blair arrived in Hamar, Norway, for the 1994 Olympics one month before her 30th birthday. For this, her last Olympic competition, the Blair Bunch was more than 60 strong. "All the Olympics I've been in have different meanings, but this one is a little sad," she told the New York Times. "It is my last." On Saturday, February 19, Blair skated against Monique Garbrecht of Germany in the third pairing of the day. Blair got off to a near-perfect start, changed lanes with ease, and dashed across the finish line with her third best time ever--39.25 seconds. The gold-medal effort was so effortless that Blair didn't feel the characteristic "burn" in her legs. Naturally, reporters by the dozens asked Blair what it was like to collect her record-tying fourth gold medal. "I really don't think about the history part until the whole thing is over," she said, according to the New York Times. With four days until the 500-meter final, Blair decided to compete in Monday's 1500 meters. Despite shaving a half-second off of her personal best, she finished fourth. For the final race, Blair was paired against a familiar foe--Ye of China. Wearing goggles, a blue hood, and a red, white, and blue uniform, Blair breezed to a courserecord time of 1 minute 18.74 seconds. "I don't know if that's good enough," she told coach Nick Thometz afterwards, according to Sports Illustrated. "But that's all I had." Blair had more than enough, outracing both Germany's Anke Baier and Ye by nearly 1.5 seconds. She won her fifth gold medal. Blair's sixth career Olympic medal broke the record for American Winter Olympians held by speed skater Eric Heiden, who took home five golds in 1980. Blair also became the first American woman and the first speed skater to win the same event in three consecutive Olympic Games. "If the Chicago Bulls can do it," she said of the highly successful National Basketball Association team, in a New York Times article, "I can do it." "Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I would accomplish what I have in the sport," Blair told Sports Illustrated nine months after her record-setting performance. "I can walk away with that and be totally content. And more so." Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.