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Cindy Klassen (born August 12, 1979 in Winnipeg, Manitoba) is a Canadian skater and Canada's all-time most decorated Olympian.

Klassen is a descendant of Mennonite immigrants to Manitoba and is a graduate of Mennonite Brethren Collegiate Institute in Winnipeg. She started her sports career as an ice hockey player; in her youth she played for the Canadian National Youth Team. When she wasn't selected for the 1998 Winter Olympics, she switched to speed skating and soon she proved to be a natural talent.

Speed skating career

Cindy Klassen missed the entire 2003–2004 season due to a serious injury: she fell during training, colliding with another skater, hitting his skate, and as a result cutting 12 tendons in her right forearm.

In 2006, she turned down the offer to carry the Canadian flag at the Opening Ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. The flag was instead carried by Women's ice hockey veteran Danielle Goyette.

Klassen became the first Canadian to win five medals in one Olympic Games. With this achievement, she tied American Eric Heiden's record of five medals won at an Olympics (1980) by a speedskater. At the same time, she overtook the previous Canadian record of most medals (three) at the same Olympic games, held by Gaetan Boucher.

Combined with her bronze medal at the 2002 Winter Olympics, she became the first Canadian to win six career Olympic medals, surpassing the five medal mark set previously by Marc Gagnon and Phil Edwards (and matched in the same race by winner Clara Hughes at the same 2006 Winter Olympic games).

Because of her success at the Turin Olympics, she was named flagbearer for the closing ceremony. Her winning the largest number of medals at the Turin Olympics caused IOC president Jacques Rogge to call her the "woman of the games". The following day, 27 February, Klassen signed the most lucrative endorsement deal ever for a Canadian amateur athlete, with Manitoba Telecom Services (MTS), estimated at about *1 million.

Results

Medals

Records

As of March 2006, she is the current holder of the world record at the 1,000 m, the 1,500 m, and the 3,000 m and is also the leader of the Adelskalender, the all-time world ranking. The 1:51.79 she skated on the 1,500 m on November 20 2005 is a phenomenal time; almost 1.5 seconds faster than the previous world record. As a reference, this would have been a world record for men in 1994 before the introduction of clap skates.

Personal records
Distance Time (min:sec.dec) Event Place Date
500 m 37.51 World Allround Championships 2006 Calgary 18 Mar 2006
1,000 m Current WR 1:13.11 ING Olympic Oval Finale 2006 Calgary 25 Mar 2006
1,500 m Current WR 1:51.79 2nd World Cup meet 2005–06 Salt Lake City 20 Nov 2005
3,000 m Current WR 3:53.34 World Allround Championships 2006 Calgary 18 Mar 2006
5,000 m 6:48.97 World Allround Championships 2006 Calgary 19 Mar 2006

External links

1979 births | Canadian ice hockey players | Olympic gold medalists for Canada | Canadian speed skaters | German Canadians | Living people | Manitoba sportspeople | Members of the Order of Manitoba | Mennonites | Norwegian Canadians | Olympic competitors for Canada | Speed skaters at the 2002 Winter Olympics | Speed skaters at the 2006 Winter Olympics | Winnipeggers | Winter Olympics medalists

Cindy Klassen | Cindy Klassen | Cindy Klassen | Cindy Klassen | Cindy Klassen | Cindy Klassen | Cindy Klassen

 

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