Cindy Klassen

Cindy Klassen

Medal record
Women's Speed Skating
Representing Canada
Olympic Games
	2006 Turin	1500 m
	2006 Turin	Team pursuit
	2006 Turin	1000 m
	2006 Turin	5000 m
	2006 Turin	3000 m
	2002 Salt Lake	3000 m
World Championships
	2007 Salt Lake City	1500 m
	2007 Salt Lake City	3000 m
	2007 Heerenveen	Allround
	2007 Hamar	Sprint
	2006 Calgary	Allround
	2005 Moscow	Allround
	2005 Inzell	1500 m
	2005 Inzell	3000 m
	2005 Inzell	Team pursuit
	2004 Seoul	1500 m
	2004 Seoul	1000 m

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 Oak Park High School 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 arm.

In 2006, she announced she would not carry the Canadian flag at the Opening Ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, although she had not yet been asked. 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 1984, 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, February 27, Klassen signed the most lucrative endorsement deal ever for a Canadian amateur athlete, with Manitoba Telecom Services (MTS), estimated at about C$1 million. Klassen also signed an endorsement deal with McDonald's. On December 11, she was named as the winner of the Lou Marsh Trophy as Canadian athlete of the year, beating out the likes of Joe Thornton, Justin Morneau, Steve Nash and team mate Clara Hughes.

Since she is already preparing for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver Klassen decided not to participate in the fall races for the 2007 Speed Skating World Cup. She returned to competition in 2008 but decided to cut the skating season short in February 2008 after her sister was in a near-fatal accident. She also said that she will only focus on the World single distance Championships. Defending her all-around title and high World Cup classifications are not her main goal for the season.

Results

Medals

• 2002
  • Bronze medal 3000 m at the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City
• 2003
  • World allround champion
• 2005
  • World champion 1500 m and 3000 m at the World Single Distance Championships
  • Silver medal at the World allround championships
• 2006
  • Gold medal and Olympic champion 1500 m at the Winter Olympics in Turin
  • Bronze medal 3000 m at the Winter Olympics in Turin
  • Silver medal Team Pursuit at the Winter Olympics in Turin
  • Silver medal 1000 m at the Winter Olympics in Turin
  • Bronze medal 5000 m at the Winter Olympics in Turin
  • World allround champion
• 2007
  • Bronze medal at the WM Sprint Championships
  • Bronze medal at the World allround championships

Awards

• 2005
  • Winner of the Bobbie Rosenfeld Award as Canadian female Athlete of the Year
• 2006
  • Winner of the Lou Marsh Trophy as Canadian Athlete of the Year
  • Winner of the Bobbie Rosenfeld Award as Canadian female Athlete of the Year

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
10,000 m	15:17.63	2002	Heerenveen	25 Mar 2002

External links

• Cindy Klassen's official homepage
• "Canada’s greatest Olympian Cindy Klassen and MTS form winning team with major sponsorship deal" – MTS press release, 27 February 2006
• Cindy Klassen biography and result listings – At SkateResults.com
• Cindy Klassen biography – At Speed Skating Canada
• Photos of Cindy Klassen – At Lars Hagen's DESG Photo website
• WinnipegLovesCindyKlassen.com – A tribute site

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