Constance Anne Paraskevin, known as Connie (married name Paraskevin-Young; born July 4, 1961) is a retired American professional track cyclist and speed skater. She is a four times sprint world champion, ten times national sprint champion and an Olympic bronze medalist. Paraskevin began skating at the age of ten, she finished third at two 500m competitions at the world sprint speed skating championships in 1978 but did not medal. At the age of 19, she was a member of the US team at 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 ...

although she did not compete. Four years later she competed at the

1984 Winter Olympics The 1984 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XIV Olympic Winter Games (Serbo-Croatian and Slovene: ''XIV. Zimske olimpijske igre''; Cyrillic: XIV Зимске олимпијске игре; mk, XIV Зимски олимписки игр ...

. Paraskevin campaigned to have the women's sprint event included in the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...

before going on to win a bronze medal in the event in

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

. She went on to compete at a further two Summer Olympics before retiring at the end of 1996. Born in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

, she is the former wife of the Olympic cyclist Roger Young. Paraskevin also coached the speed skater

Bonnie Blair Bonnie Kathleen Blair (born March 18, 1964) is a retired American speed skater. She is one of the top skaters of her era, and one of the most decorated athletes in Olympic history. Blair competed for the United States in four Olympics, winnin ...

when she briefly dabbled in track cycling. She is now the founder/director of the Connie Cycling Foundation.

Palmarès

Pan American Games The Pan American Games (also known colloquially as the Pan Am Games) is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas featuring summer sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The competition is held ...

:3rd Sprint, UCI Track Cycling World Championships ;1988 :1st Sprint, US National Track Championships :3rd Sprint,

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 ...

;1989 :1st Sprint, US National Track Championships :1st Sprint, Sundance Grand Prix, USA :3rd Sprint, World Invitational, USA ;1990 :1st Sprint, UCI Track Cycling World Championships :1st Sprint, ABC Olympic Cup, USA :1st Sprint, Goodwill Games, USA :Velo News Oscars - U.S. Female Cyclist of the year. ;1991 :1st Sprint, Pre Olympic Track event, Spain :3rd Sprint, UCI Track Cycling World Championships :3rd Sprint, G.P. De Paris, France ;1992 :1st Sprint, US National Track Championships ;1993 :3rd

UCI Track Cycling World Cup Classics The UCI Track Cycling World Cup (formerly known as the UCI Track Cycling World Cup Classics) is a multi race tournament held over a track cycling season - usually between October and February. Each series is divided into several rounds, each held i ...

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

:3rd Sprint, US National Track Championships ;1994 :1st Sprint, US National Track Championships ;1995 :1st Sprint, US National Track Championships :2nd Sprint, Pan American Games, Argentina ;1996 :1st Sprint, US National Track Championships

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Paraskevin, Connie 1961 births Living people American female cyclists American female speed skaters Speed skaters at the 1980 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 1984 Winter Olympics Cyclists at the 1987 Pan American Games Cyclists at the 1988 Summer Olympics Cyclists at the 1992 Summer Olympics Cyclists at the 1995 Pan American Games Cyclists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Olympic speed skaters of the United States Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in cycling UCI Track Cycling World Champions (women) Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics Pan American Games medalists in cycling Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States Pan American Games silver medalists for the United States American track cyclists Competitors at the 1990 Goodwill Games Medalists at the 1995 Pan American Games 21st-century American women