Leah Jean Poulos-Mueller (''

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

'' Poulos, born October 5, 1951) is an American retired speed skater. She competed at the 1972, 1976 and 1980 Winter Olympics, and won two silver medals in 1980 and one in 1976. She garnered more than 65 Olympic, world, and international speed skating medals and titles during a career that spanned 12 competitive years and three Olympic teams. After retiring from competitions she had a long career in law as a

civil litigator Civil law is a major branch of the law.Glanville Williams. ''Learning the Law''. Eleventh Edition. Stevens. 1982. p. 2. In common law legal systems such as England and Wales and the United States, the term refers to non-criminal law. The law rel ...

Early life and education

In the early years, Poulos was a member of the Northbrook Speedskating Club in

Northbrook, Illinois Northbrook is a suburb of Chicago, located at the northern edge of Cook County, Illinois, United States, on the border of Lake County, Illinois, Lake County. Per the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 35,222. When incorpo ...

where many Olympians were trained. The club was founded in 1952 and resulted in Northbrook being dubbed as the ''Speedskating Capital of the World''. More than twenty skaters from the club went on to the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

, and at least five skaters were recipients of various medals. In the early days of her athletic career, her parents financed her training and travel expenses. She began training at the age of 7.

Speedskating career

1970 World Sprint Championships

Poulos specialized in sprint events and made her international debut at the

World Sprint Speed Skating Championships The World Sprint Speed Skating Championships are annual speed skating championships. The championships are held over a two-day period, with the skaters racing one 500 m and one 1,000 m each day. Since the higher speeds towards the end ...

(then called the ''ISU Sprint Championships'') in 1970, where she won a silver medal in the 500 meter event.

1972 Winter Olympic Games, Japan

Poulos placed 24th in the 1500 m and 17th in the 3000 m at the

1972 Winter Olympics The 1972 Winter Olympics, officially the and commonly known as Sapporo 1972 ( ja, 札幌1972), was a winter multi-sport event held from February 3 to 13, 1972, in Sapporo, Japan. It was the first Winter Olympic Games to take place outside Europe ...

1974 World Allround Championships

Poulos competed in several World Allround Championships. Her first World Championship title came in 1974 when she became World Sprint Champion.

1976 Winter Olympic Games, Innsbruck

Poulos participated in the

1976 Winter Olympics The 1976 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XII Olympic Winter Games (german: XII. Olympische Winterspiele, french: XIIes Jeux olympiques d'hiver) and commonly known as Innsbruck 1976 ( bar, Innschbruck 1976, label=Austro-Bavarian), was a ...

Innsbruck Innsbruck (; bar, Innschbruck, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian ) is the capital of Tyrol (state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the ...

and she entered in three distances. The first race was the 1500 m, in which she finished 6th. The next day, she skated the 500 m and finished 4th – only 0.04 seconds away from a bronze medal. The day after that, she won silver on the 1000 m, behind world record holder

Tatyana Averina Tatyana Borisovna Averina (russian: Татья́на Бори́совна Аве́рина; 25 June 1950 – 22 August 2001Great Russian Encyclopedia (2006), Moscow: Bol'shaya Rossiyskaya Enciklopediya Publisher, vol. 1) was a Soviet ...

, and ahead of her compatriot

Sheila Young Sheila Grace Young-Ochowicz (born October 14, 1950) is a retired American speed skater and track cyclist. She won three world titles in each of these sports, twice in the same year (in 1973 and 1976). In 1976, she also became the first American ...

, who took the bronze medal. Later that year, she won silver at the World Sprint Championships, behind Sheila Young.

1976–1979 World Sprint Championships

In 1976 and 1977, Poulos-Mueller won silver again at the World Sprint Championships. In 1977, she won just behind

Sylvia Burka Sylvia Burka ( lv, Silvija Burka; born May 4, 1954, in Winnipeg, Manitoba) is a former ice speed skater and track cyclist from Canada of Latvian descent, who represented her native country at three consecutive Winter Olympics, starting in 1972 i ...

. Poulos-Mueller retired from competition for one year when she married Peter Mueller. She returned to competition in 1979 and immediately became World Sprint Champion again. At this point, Poulos-Mueller was considered the best in the world in the women's 500 meter category. The following year, Poulos-Mueller finished second at the World Sprint Championships.

1980 Winter Olympic Games, New York

Poulos participated in the

1980 Winter Olympics The 1980 Winter Olympics, officially the XIII Olympic Winter Games and also known as Lake Placid 1980, were an international multi-sport event held from February 13 to 24, 1980, in Lake Placid, New York, United States. Lake Placid was elected ...

, where she competed in the 500 m and the 1000 m, winning silver in both.

1980 World Sprint Championships

In 1980, Poulos-Mueller won silver again at the World Sprint Championships.

Hall of Fame

Poulos-Mueller was inducted into the following Halls of Fame:

Legal career

Poulos-Mueller is a JD graduate of

Marquette University Law School Marquette University Law School is the professional graduate law school of Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It is one of two law schools in Wisconsin and the only private law school in the state. Founded in 1892 as the Milwaukee Law ...

. Presently, Poulos-Mueller is a practicing attorney and is the Senior Partner of Poulos-Mueller Attorneys out of

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...

where her practice was focused on

constitutional right A constitutional right can be a prerogative or a duty, a power or a restraint of power, recognized and established by a sovereign state or union of states. Constitutional rights may be expressly stipulated in a national constitution, or they may ...

s. Poulos-Mueller currently concentrates a significant portion of her law practice in the areas of family and elder law.

White House Guest

Poulos-Mueller was a frequent guest of the United States President at the White House. Following are dates and events that Poulos-Mueller was an official guest at the White House: She was a founding member of Title IX discussions resulting in increased participatory rights for women and girls in sports.

Personal life

After partially retiring from skating, in September 1977, Poulos married Peter Mueller, who had also won a gold medal on the 1000 m at the

. She then retired in earnest and then came out of retirement three years later to participate in the

. Subsequent to winning her string of medals, Poulos-Mueller retired from her Olympic career in order to support her husband's career and training and to prioritize her family values. Throughout her career as an Olympian, she also maintained a part-time career as a sales representative for

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlanta ...

was the Executive Director or the United States International Speed Skating Association and mother of two.

References

External links

Personal records from Jakub Majerski's Speedskating Database

The National Speedskating Museum and Hall of Fame

Mid-America Speedskating Team – coached by Leah's father, Sam Poulos
Contains pictures of Leah in the Photo Gallery. {{DEFAULTSORT:Poulos-Mueller, Leah 1951 births American female speed skaters Speed skaters at the 1972 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 1976 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 1980 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1976 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1980 Winter Olympics Olympic silver medalists for the United States in speed skating Glenbrook North High School alumni Sportspeople from Cook County, Illinois People from Berwyn, Illinois Living people 21st-century American women