Peter Alan Mueller (born July 27, 1954 in

Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the county seat of Dane County and the capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census the population was 269,840, making it the second-largest city in Wisconsin by population, after Milwaukee, and the 80th-lar ...

) is an American former

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. ...

and currently a speed skating

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

Early life

Mueller attended

La Follette High School Robert M. La Follette High School is a public school located in Madison, Wisconsin, serving the city's far east side with its attendance boundaries including parts of the City of Madison, City of Fitchburg, Town of Blooming Grove, and Town of Burke ...

Skating career

Peter Mueller was the first Olympic Champion on the 1,000 m, when this distance was introduced at 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 ...

. More international successes followed at the World Sprint Championships, where he won bronze in 1976 and silver in 1977. His last appearance as a speed skater was 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 ...

in Lake Placid, where he placed 5th in the 1,000 m, 1.93 seconds behind the winning time of

Eric Heiden Eric Arthur Heiden (born June 14, 1958) is an American physician and a former long track speed skater, road cyclist and track cyclist. He won an unprecedented five individual gold medals, and set four Olympic records and one world record at the ...

Coaching

After ending his speed skating career, Mueller became a very successful skating coach. He was the coach of

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, winning ...

when she won two gold medals at the

1992 Winter Olympics ) , nations = 64 , athletes = 1,801 (1313 men, 488 women) , events = 57 in 6 sports (12 disciplines) , opening = 8 February 1992 , closing = 23 February 1992 , opened_by = President François Mitterrand , cauldron ...

Dan Jansen Daniel Erwin Jansen (born June 17, 1965) is a retired American speed skater. A multiple world champion in sprint and perennial favorite at the Winter Olympics, he broke a ten-year Olympic jinx when he won a gold medal in his final race, which ...

when he won gold at the

1994 Winter Olympics The 1994 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVII Olympic Winter Games ( no, De 17. olympiske vinterleker; nn, Dei 17. olympiske vinterleikane) and commonly known as Lillehammer '94, was an international winter multi-sport event held fro ...

Marianne Timmer Maria Aaltje ("Marianne") Timmer (born 3 October 1974) is a Dutch former speed skater specializing in the middle distances (1000 and 1500 m). At the 1998 Winter Olympics Timmer won a gold medal in both these events. Speed skating career I ...

(two gold medals) and

Jan Bos Jan Bos (born 29 March 1975) is a Dutch former long track speed skating, speedskater and sprint track cycling, cyclist. In the late 1990s he was world champion in speed skating and he competed in the 1998, 2002, 2006 and 2010 Winter Olympics. Sp ...

(silver) at 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 ...

, and

Gianni Romme Gianni Petrus Cornelis Romme (born 12 February 1973) is a Dutch marathoner and a former long track speed skater. He won two gold medals at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano and was the World all-round champion in 2000 and 2003. Romme has been a ...

(silver) 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 addition, several speed skaters winning a total of five World Sprint Championships, one World Allround Championships, and one European Allround Championships titles were also coached by him. Since the 2003/2004 season, Mueller was the coach of the

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway *Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including the ...

team. He quickly added to his list of successes as a coach when, at the

World Single Distance Championships The World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships are a series of speed skating competitions organised by the International Skating Union. History Since the late 19th century, speed skating championships were always decided by racing multiple ...

of 2005 in

Inzell Inzell is a municipality in the district of Traunstein in Bavaria, Germany. It is known for the Eisstadion Inzell, an outdoor artificial ice rink that has been used for many international speed skating championships. It is now an indoor oval. Ge ...

Even Wetten Even Gabrielsen Wetten (born 12 August 1982 in Hamar) is a Norwegian speed skater. He became World Champion on 1,000 metres in 2005 in Inzell Inzell is a municipality in the district of Traunstein in Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), official ...

(on the 1,000 m) and

Rune Stordal Rune Stordal (born 8 April 1979 in Bergen) is a Norwegian 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 lo ...

(on the 1500 m) became World Champions. Mueller was fired as coach of the Norwegian team in November 2009, due to allegations of harassment of skater Maren Haugli.

Private life

Mueller was married to American speed skater Leah Poulos, two times World Sprint Champion and three times Olympic silver medalist, and had two children. Later, he married

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

speed skater

. He and Timmer are now divorced. An autobiography, called ''Op dun ijs'' ("On thin ice"), was published in the Netherlands in 2006.

References

* ;Footnotes

External links

* * * *
Peter A. Mueller
at

Team USA The United States national team or Team USA may refer to any of a number of sports team representing the United States in international competitions. Olympic teams Additionally, these teams may compete in other international competitions such as ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mueller, Peter 1954 births Living people American male speed skaters American autobiographers American sports coaches Speed skating coaches Olympic gold medalists for the United States in speed skating Speed skaters at the 1976 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 1980 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1976 Winter Olympics Sportspeople from Madison, Wisconsin World Sprint Speed Skating Championships medalists