Wilfred John O'Reilly (born 22 August 1964 in

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- now West Midlands,

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

) is a British former

short track speed skater Short-track speed skating is a form of competitive ice skating, ice speed skating. In competitions, multiple skaters (typically between four and six) skate on an oval ice track with a length of . The rink itself is long by wide, which is the s ...

. He won two gold medals at the

1988 Winter Olympics The 1988 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XV Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Calgary 1988 were a multi-sport event held from February 13 to 28, 1988, with Calgary, Calgary, Alberta as the main host city. This marks the m ...

when short track speed skating was held as a demonstration sport. He was also the 1991 Overall World Champion. He is now coach of the Netherlands short track team.

Speed skating career

O'Reilly won two gold medals in the

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and

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at the

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, but was denied full Olympic acclamation because short track speed skating was just a demonstration event that year. O'Reilly won the overall

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

title in

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in 1991. O'Reilly had a disastrous 1994 Olympics in

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where he crashed out of both the

and

, protesting about being forced to race with a damaged blade. He was honoured by TeamGB by being given the

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role at the 1994 Olympics Closing Ceremony.

Commentating

O'Reilly commentated alongside

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for

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Speed skating at the Winter Olympics Long track speed skating has been featured as a sport in the Winter Olympics since the first winter games in 1924. Women's events were added to the Olympic program for the first time in 1960 Squaw Valley Olympics. Summary History The gover ...

in both

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and

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, and partnered Simon Brotherton in both

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, and

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Honours

O'Reilly was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(MBE) in the

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for services to Short Track Speed Skating. He is currently a member of the ISU Short Track Speed Skating World Cup Management Commission.

Personal life

O'Reilly was born in England to an African-American father and an Irish mother.

References

External links

* * * * 1964 births Living people British male short-track speed skaters Short-track speed skaters at the 1988 Winter Olympics Short-track speed skaters at the 1992 Winter Olympics Short-track speed skaters at the 1994 Winter Olympics Olympic short-track speed skaters for Great Britain Members of the Order of the British Empire Winter World University Games medalists in short-track speed skating FISU World University Games silver medalists for Great Britain Competitors at the 1991 Winter Universiade English people of Irish descent English people of African-American descent World Short Track Speed Skating Championships medalists {{UK-speed-skating-bio-stub