Nicky GOOCH

Eight times a British champion and four times an Olympian, Gooch was the first Briton to win an Olympic speed skating medal of any colour at any discipline. Gooch’s greatest success came at Lillehammer in 1994 when he won the bronze medal in the 500m just four days after being disqualified from the silver medal position in the 1000m for barging an opponent. He was a three time medallist at World Championships, twice in the relay and once, in 1996, at 1500m and set an unofficial world best in the longer event though lack of electronic timing meant it was never ratified as a world record. Gooch suffered from illness and performed well below par in Nagano and was past his best by the 2002 Olympics. After his retirement from competition he joined the staff of the national speed skating association and served as assistant coach to the national team. In 2006 his skating technique was motion-captured and served as the basis for a sequence in an award-winning television commercial where a Citroen car turns into a speed-skating robot.