Jeremy Lee Wotherspoon (born October 26, 1976) is a
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
speed skater
Speed skating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors race each other in travelling a certain distance on skates. Types of speed skating are long track speed skating, short track speed skating, and marathon speed skating. ...
, widely recognized as one of the greatest speedskating sprinters of all time.
In December 2003, Wotherspoon became the most successful male skater in World Cup history when he claimed the 49th victory of his career. He finished his career with a record 67 World Cup wins at 500 and 1,000 metres.
Wotherspoon broke the 500 m world record on three occasions. He broke the 1000 m world record seven times.
Red Deer, Alberta
Red Deer is a city in Alberta, Canada, located midway on the Calgary–Edmonton Corridor. Red Deer serves central Alberta, and key industries include health care, retail trade, construction, oil and gas, hospitality, manufacturing and education ...
. There he first became involved in speedskating after signing up for a power skating class in an effort to improve his
ice hockey
Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...
abilities. Initially, Wotherspoon competed in both short track and long track events. He eventually chose long track as a specialty and climbed through the junior ranks, moving to Calgary to train with the Canadian national team at the age of 17. Wotherspoon soon won medals on the World Cup circuit, with his first victories in 1997.
Wotherspoon dominated sprint events and held world records in both the 500 m and
1000 m
The 1000 metres is an uncommon middle-distance running event in track and field competitions.
The 1000 yards, an imperial alternative, was sometimes also contested.
All-time top 25
*h = hand timed
*i = indoor performance
*A = affected b ...
distances. He is a four-time World Sprint Champion, taking the title four times in five years between 1999 and 2003, and a 13-time World Cup Overall Champion on the 500 m and the 1000 m. During the
1998 Winter Olympics
The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially known as the and commonly known as Nagano 1998 ( ja, 長野1998), was a winter multi-sport event held from 7 to 22 February 1998, mainly in Nagano, Japan, with some events taking place in the ...
in
Nagano Nagano may refer to:
Places
* Nagano Prefecture, a prefecture in Japan
** Nagano (city), the capital city of the same prefecture
*** Nagano 1998, the 1998 Winter Olympics
*** Nagano Olympic Stadium, a baseball stadium in Nagano
*** Nagano Universi ...
, Wotherspoon won a silver medal in the 500 m, despite being the favorite.
Four years later, at the
2002 Winter Olympics
The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 ( arp, Niico'ooowu' 2002; Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; nv, Sooléí 2002; Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), was an internation ...
in
Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...
, Wotherspoon fell at the start of his run during the 500 m, and finished 13th in the 1000 m event. The next Olympic Games in
Turin
Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The ...
in 2006, he failed to reach the podium once again, placing 9th in the 500 m event and 11th in the 1000 m. Wotherspoon, disappointed, decided to spend time alone on Mausund, a remote Norwegian island near the Arctic Circle. When asked whether he was anxious over skating after a season away from the sport, he stated "I'm more interested to see how quickly I can get back up."
2010 Olympics and first retirement
Following his time in Norway, Wotherspoon set a world record in the 500 m event on November 9, 2007. However, he later suffered an arm injury while skating in the 2008–09 World Cup season. On December 27, 2009, Wotherspoon officially secured his spot for the 500 m and 1000 m events at the
2010 Winter Olympics
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, nations = 82
, athletes = 2,626
, events = 86 in 7 sports (15 disciplines)
, opening = February 12, 2010
, closing = February 28, 2010
, opened_by = Governor General Michaëlle Jean
, cauldron = Catriona Le May DoanNancy GreeneWayne Gret ...
in Vancouver after finishing first in the Canadian trials held at the Calgary
Olympic Oval
The Olympic Oval in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, is North America's first covered speed skating oval; it was built for the 1988 Winter Olympics and opened on September 27, 1987.
Comeback
Wotherspoon announced that he was returning to speedskating in June 2013 with the aim of competing at the 2014 Winter Olympics. He failed, however, to qualify in his signature event, the 500 m sprint, and was not named to Canada's Olympic team.
Post-retirement
Following his initial retirement in 2010, Wotherspoon coached at an academy in Inzell, Germany, training skaters from countries without coaches, facilities or formal programs. He returned there after his 2014 comeback attempt, then moved to a developmental team in
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...
. In April 2016 Wotherspoon became the sprint coach for Norway's national team, with the aim of ending that nation's three-decade Olympic medal drought in long track's sprint events.
Red Deer, Alberta
Red Deer is a city in Alberta, Canada, located midway on the Calgary–Edmonton Corridor. Red Deer serves central Alberta, and key industries include health care, retail trade, construction, oil and gas, hospitality, manufacturing and education ...
. He is married to Canadian former speed skater and 2006 Olympian Kim Weger; the couple has a daughter, Ella.
Records
Personal bests
World records
Source: SpeedSkatingStats.com.
From November 23, 1997, to January 29, 2012, Wotherspoon held the world record for the sprint combination: the point summation of four races (2x500 m and 2x1000 m) skated consecutively within two days, like those calculated for 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 ...
. He improved on his own record five times since. His fastest combination of 135.355 (34.03, 34.14, 1:07.34, 1:07.03), accomplished during World Cup races at the
Utah Olympic Oval
The Utah Olympic Oval is an indoor speed skating oval located southwest of Salt Lake City, in Kearns, Utah. The Oval was built for the 2002 Winter Olympics and it hosted the long track speed skating events for the 2002 games. Inside the facili ...
over three days in November 2007 was not an official world record but has still not been bettered as of March 2019.
Furthermore, until November 2015, nearly 6 years after his retirement, Wotherspoon had skated the six fastest laps (400 m) ever, the fastest of which was a 24.32 s lap in his first 1000 m race in Salt Lake City in November 2007. His average speed in that lap was .
See also
*
List of Canadian sports personalities
The following is a list of Canadian sports personalities.
Olympic athletes
*Alex Baumann, Sudbury, swimmer
* Josh Binstock (born 1981), volleyball player
*Patrick Chan, Ottawa
* Victor Davis, Guelph
*Andre De Grasse, Scarborough/ Markham
*Lor ...