Connie PARASKEVIN-YOUNG

Connie Paraskevin-Young was a cyclist/speed skater who competed at four Olympics, the 1984 Winter Olympics in speed skating, and from 1988-96 at the Summer Olympics as a cyclist. She was best known as a sprint cyclist, and her Olympic record would likely have been greater but track cycling was not an Olympic event for women until 1988, when she won a bronze medal in the sprint. Paraskevin-Young won four World Championships on the track in the sprint, including three consecutive in 1982-84, and won eight medals in that event in all, with six straight from 1982-87. At the 1978 World Sprint Speed Skating Championships she won two bronze medals in both 500 metre events. Domestically she was a 10-time US champion in the cycling sprint. In 1995 Paraskevin-Young set a world record for the 200 metre finish of the sprint, recording 11.064 at the World Championships. Her other major titles include sprint golds at the 1987 Pan American Games and 1990 Goodwill Games. She also won a 1991 bronze medal in the prized invitational track event, the Grand Prix de Paris, and a silver medal in the sprint at the 1995 Pan American Games. Paraskevin-Young retired after the 1996 Olympics and became a coach and motivational speaker.

Speedskating Personal Bests: 500 – 41.86 (1984); 1000 – 1:26.78 (1983); 1500 – 2:19.01 (1979); 3000 – 5:17.40 (1979).