Kevin OVERLAND

The eldest of three Olympic siblings from a sport-focused family (he is the brother of Cindy and Amanda Overland, while his father Ernie was also a skater) speed skater Kevin Overland was a favorite for a medal in the 1,500m event at the 1998 Winter Olympics, but ended up with a bronze in the 500m instead. During his career, he had specialized in the 1,500m, even holding the world record in the event for a month in 1997. Furthermore, prior to the games, he had claimed that his best shot at a medal would be in the 1000m, an event in which he had also held the world record prior to the Games. He had trained for the 1994 Winter Olympics, but a car accident left him unable to attend the trials for the Canadian National Team. Several months before the Olympics, he suffered a serious groin injury during the trials and had to recover immediately after securing his spot.

Overland was inducted as a member of the Cambridge Sports Hall of Fame in 1998, after his retirement. His coach, Jack Walters, had previously coached Gaétan Boucher to four Olympic medals, including gold twice. Having changed his name to Crockett in honour of his grandfather, Kevin Crockett is now a speed skating coach himself who has trained, among others, Chinese speed skater Wang Beixing.

Personal Bests: 500 – 35.43 (2000); 1000 – 1:09.56 (2000); 1500 – 1:49.07 (1998); 5000 – 7:20.19 (1993); 10000 – 15:20.58 (1993).