Derek Parra
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| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | March 15, 1970 San Bernardino, California |
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| Height | 1.62 m (5 ft 4 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 63 kg (140 lb; 9.9 st) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Country |  United States |
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| Sport | Speed skating | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Medal record
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Derek Parra (born March 15, 1970) is a Mexican-American speed skater from San Bernardino, California, who graduated from Eisenhower High School (Rialto, California) in 1988. Parra won two medals at the 2002 Winter Olympics, held in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Parra was originally a world champion inline speed skater. Following the lead of KC Boutiette, he switched to ice skating in the late 1990s as it was the only way he would have a chance of going to the Olympics as a speed skater.
Parra started speed skating at stardust skating center in San Bernardino
Parra's most successful season was from 2001 to 2002. At the 2002 Winter Olympics, he took the gold in the 1500 meters, an event in which he had been expected to do well but faced a deep pool of competition. Before that, he had surprisingly won the silver in the 5000 meters, an event in which he had not been expected to place but in which he briefly held the world record before being bested by Jochem Uytdehaage of the Netherlands.
Derek Parra was selected to take over as U.S. speed skating national all-around coach for the upcoming 2010 Olympics.
| Personal records | ||||
| Men's speed skating | ||||
| Distance | Time | Date | Location | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 500 m | 35.88 | 2001-01-18 | Salt Lake City, Utah | |
| 1000 m | 1:08.87 | 2003-01-11 | Salt Lake City, Utah | |
| 1500 m | 1:43.95 | 2002-02-19 | Salt Lake City, Utah | Olympic Record |
| 3000 m | 3:46.14 | 2002-02-03 | Salt Lake City, Utah | |
| 5000 m | 6:17.98 | 2002-02-09 | Salt Lake City, Utah | |
| 10000 m | 13:33.44 | 2002-02-22 | Salt Lake City, Utah | |
[edit] External links
- Derek Parra's U.S. Olympic Team bio ... with notes, quotes, photos
- Photos of Derek Parra
- Profile on SkateResults.com
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- 1970 births
- Living people
- American roller skaters
- American speed skaters
- American sportspeople of Mexican descent
- Olympic speed skaters of the United States
- Olympic gold medalists for the United States
- Olympic silver medalists for the United States
- People from the Inland Empire (California)
- Speed skaters at the 2002 Winter Olympics
- Speed skaters at the 2006 Winter Olympics
- Olympic medalists in speed skating
- Former world record holders in speed skating
- American speed skating biography stubs
- American Winter Olympic medalist stubs
