FIVE-TIME OLYMPIC MEDALIST CHAD HEDRICK TO BE INDUCTED INTO NATIONAL SPEED SKATING HALL OF FAME
KEARNS, Utah – US Speedskating (USS) announced today that five-time Olympic medalist Chad Hedrick will be inducted into the National Speed Skating Hall of Fame on Friday, June 2 in Baltimore, Maryland. In addition, current USS President Mike Plant will be inducted into the Hall of Fame as a contributor to the sport.
“IT’S TRULY AN HONOR TO BE INDUCTED INTO THE NATIONAL SPEED SKATING HALL OF FAME AND TO BE IN THE SAME CONVERSATION WITH SO MANY GREAT SPEED SKATERS THAT I LOOKED UP TO AND SHARED THE ICE WITH,” STATED HEDRICK. “THE SPORT HAS HAD A HUGE IMPACT ON MY LIFE IN SO MANY WAYS – FROM MY START ON INLINES, TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF MY FOUNDATION AND CONTINUED INVOLVEMENT IN THE SPECIAL OLYMPICS – AND I’M HUMBLED TO HAVE A LIFELONG SEAT AT THE SPEED SKATING TABLE.”
Hedrick got his start in the sport as an inline speed skater growing up just north of Houston, Texas, where he learned to walk on a pair of conventional roller skates at the age of 17 months. His inline career produced nine-straight World Overall Championships and 52 World Championship victories, becoming the most decorated inline speed skater of all-time. Following his transition to ice in 2003, it took Hedrick less than 18 months to break his first world record and to become the World Allround Champion lowering the world record by over a full point in the process.
His incredibly successful Olympic career began with three Olympic medals in 2006, collecting a gold medal in the men’s 5000m, delivering Team USA’s first Olympic gold in Torino. He would later add a silver medal in the 10000m and a bronze in the 1500m. Four years later in Vancouver at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, Hedrick won two more medals – a silver in the Team Pursuit and a bronze in the 1000m – joining Olympic great Eric Heiden (1980) as the only speed skaters in the world to earn five Olympic medals across five different events. His five Olympic medals are tied for the fourth-most among U.S. Winter Olympians.
Mike Plant has been a staple of the Olympic movement, both as an athlete and as an executive for 37 years. He was a member of the 1980 U.S. Olympic Team and a six-time member of U.S. World Championship speed skating teams. He has served as the volunteer President of USS since 2013, while holding the full-time position as President of Development for the Atlanta Braves.
“The Olympic movement has played a significant role in my life for almost 40 years since I made my first team representing USS,” commented Plant. “I have been impacted and surrounded by so many great individuals in this sport and I will never be able to fully repay what it has done for my career and life. I’m privileged to share this induction with an Olympic great like Chad [Hedrick].”
Plant has served on numerous Olympic committees over his career, including two four-year terms as the US Speedskating’s athlete representative on the USOC Athletes’ Advisory Council, an eight-year term on the USOC Board of Directors and Executive Committee, and was the President of USA Cycling from 1995 to 2002. He was named the U.S. Chef de Mission at the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver and was inducted into the USA Cycling Hall of Fame as a contributor to the sport in 2008.
The National Speed Skating Hall of Fame ceremony will take place in Baltimore, Maryland at the Live! Lofts and will be in conjunction with US Speedskating’s Annual Congress, which will be held June 1-3 at The Westin Baltimore Washington Airport.
Hall of Fame nominations are accepted year-round and can be submitted using the nomination forms found here.