Who won five gold medals in speed skating at the 1980 Winter Olympics?

Eric Heiden won five gold medals in speed skating at the 1980 Winter Olympics.

Heiden won every men’s individual speed-skating event held at Lake Placid: the 500 metres, 1,000 metres, 1,500 metres, 5,000 metres and 10,000 metres. His five victories made him the dominant athlete of those Games.

Heiden set Olympic records in all five races, an extraordinary achievement because the distances require very different racing skills. His 10,000-metre victory was especially notable because he set a world record on outdoor ice.

Heiden later became a physician and worked in sports medicine. His performance is sometimes confused with the five gold medals won by other Olympic stars at a single Games, but Heiden remains uniquely associated with sweeping all five men’s speed-skating events in 1980.