Dan Jansen

Dan Jansen is an American former long track speedskater and four-time Olympian, who won a historic gold medal in the 1,000-meter at his fourth and final Olympic Games. Born in West Allis, Wisconsin, Jansen and his eight siblings were introduced to skating at a young age. He set a junior world record at age 16 during his first international competition, and he made the 1984 U.S. Olympic Team two years later. Jansen was a seven-time overall world cup champion and two-time world sprint champion, with eight world records and over 75 world cup medals. Despite his success outside of the Games, Jansen had not won an Olympic medal entering the final event of his Olympic career. He finished fourth in the 500 in his first Games, and he fell in the 500 and 1,000 during the Olympic Winter Games Calgary 1988 following his sister’s death due to leukemia. Jansen continued competing and training, however, becoming the first skater to break the 36-second barrier in the 500. He beat the 36-second barrier four times leading up to the Olympic Winter Games Lillehammer 1994 -- a feat no other skater had accomplished. Jansen finally earned his first Olympic medal in the 1,000 with a world-record time, and subsequently won the 1994 James E. Sullivan Award for the nation's most outstanding amateur athlete. After retiring from speedskating, he worked as a CBS sports broadcaster and established the Dan Jansen Foundation to help aid in leukemia research and youth sports programs.