Speedskating
Success under pressure is the measure of a true champion. There are numerous winners in the world of sports but the celebrated athletes are the few who meet the challenge of pressure time after time. Bonnie Blair is undoubtedly celebrated as the speedskater who produces her best performances when it counts the most.
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Blair made her Olympic debut at the 1984 Sarajevo Games, finishing eighth in the 500 meters. At the time, Blair trained in both short-track and long-track speedskating. She won the 1986 short-track world championship.
Blair returned to the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, competing in long-track. There she won her first Olympic gold medal in the 500 meters in World Record time and a bronze medal in the 1,000 meter. Blair then won two gold medals in the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville and her final two Olympic gold medals at the 1994 Lillehammer games. This made her the first American to win back-to-back-to-back Gold medals in a Winter Olympic event.
Blair continued competing through 1995 when the World Championships were held in Milwaukee. She finally retired in March 1995, on her 31st birthday, by setting an American Record in the 1,000m.
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After retiring from speed skating, Blair became a motivational speaker. She has been inducted into the United States Olympic Hall of Fame, Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame, the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame, and the US Speedskating Hall of Fame.
Family
Bonnie is married to 4x Olympian Dave Cruikshank and they have 2 kids.
Grant is a collegiate hockey player at St. Cloud State University and Blair is a member of the DASH (Developing Athletes for Speedskating High-Performance) speedskating organization and student at Marquette University.
Charity
Since retiring Bonnie has been very active in local and national philanthropic efforts.
Notably, Blair has worked extensively with the Alzheimer's Association since 2001. Bonnie's mother passed away from alzheimers in 2004. Starting in 2011 they have given a “Blair Cares” award each year. This award honors both Blair and those exemplary volunteers who embody that same spirit with their service to the Walk to End Alzheimer’s.
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Bonnie also did fundraising for the Leukemia and other Blood Disorders with the "Polaski Pedalers" from 2007-2018. This began when Blair's sister Mary was diagnosed with leukemia. In total they raised over $130,000.
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Beyond volunteering and fundraising Bonnie served on US Speedskating's Board of Directors for a decade. She has also been a member of the Pettit National Ice Center's Board of Directors since 1996.
What Bonnie's up to now!
Bonnie is the Director of Community Engagement for The DASH Project Inc, a non-profit on a mission to...
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Grow Speedskating
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Preserve & Build Upon Wisconsin's Iconic Speedskating Heritage
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Develop Champions In Their Lives & On The Ice!
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The acronym DASH stands for "Developing Athletes for Speedskating High-Performance," and Blair knows a thing or two about performing at the highest level.
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Bonnie was integral in assembling the organization's 6-member Gold Medal Advisory Board to guide DASH (Dan Jansen, Joey Cheek, Chris Witty, Casey FitzRandolph, Chad Hedrick, and Bonnie).
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Blair has also served for 10-years on the Board of Directors for San Francisco based Decker Communication.
"Winning doesn't always mean being first. Winning means you're doing better than you've ever done before!"
My Mission
My mission is to help people become the best versions of themselves. Not everyone can become an Olympic gold medalist but everyone can chase their personal bests! Through goal setting and holding oneself accountable to those goals we can all do better than we've ever done before!