The best short track speed skaters in the 20th century
Gaetan Boucher
Boucher was born 1958 close to Montreal. He started with ice hockey but he detected that he liked speed skating more. In 1976 he was already so good in this sport that he became second in the overall short track World championship. The next year he was first and repeated this result in 1980 and was second in the overall classification in the next two years. In this way he won of course many gold medals on different distances in short track world championships. He lived in a time that high-performance sports was a term commonly associated with amateur athletics in Canada. For a while he survived on a $320 monthly stipend from Sport Canada — it moved to $850 a month later in his career, but even then, he needed the help of his agent to get a mortgage for his house and had to pay for his own skates.
Boucher was born 1958 close to Montreal. He started with ice hockey but he detected that he liked speed skating more. In 1976 he was already so good in this sport that he became second in the overall short track World championship. The next year he was first and repeated this result in 1980 and was second in the overall classification in the next two years. In this way he won of course many gold medals on different distances in short track world championships. He lived in a time that high-performance sports was a term commonly associated with amateur athletics in Canada. For a while he survived on a $320 monthly stipend from Sport Canada — it moved to $850 a month later in his career, but even then, he needed the help of his agent to get a mortgage for his house and had to pay for his own skates.
Because short track speed skating was as yet not recognized as an Olympic sport, he moved to long track speed skating in order to participate in the Olympics. He participated 1980 with success in the world championships short track speed skating and in the Olympic games. During the Olympic Games in 1980 he won his first silver medal on the 1000 m behind Eric Heiden. In the Olympic games, 1984, he won two gold medals in long track speed skating. This was the first time that Canada won gold on the Olympic games. With his long experience in short track skating, he became especially successful on the 500, 1000 and 1500m in long track speed skating.
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There is no video of him as short track skater but the video below shows how he won his first gold medal on the Olympic games in Sarajevo, 1984.
Marc Gagnon
Marc Gagnon was born in 1975 in Quebec when Gaetan Boucher realized his first successes in short track championships. Because short track speed skating became in 1992 an Olympic sport, he did not have to move to long track speed skating in order to participate in the Olympic games. His first overall world championship he realized already in 1993. This success he repeated 4 times while he won also two times silver and one time bronze. Besides he won on the Olympic games 3 times gold and 2 times bronze medals. By all these successes he was the best sports man of Canada in the 20th century. The most famous race was undoubtedly a race where he or one of the three other top skaters was expected to win but they did not due a spectacular accident as the video below shows.
The video illustrates that it is very easy to lose a game and a championship due to an accident caused by another. Therefore, it is even more remarkable that some of the best skaters are able to repeatedly win the overall championships. One of them was Marc Gagnon.
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Marc Gagnon was born in 1975 in Quebec when Gaetan Boucher realized his first successes in short track championships. Because short track speed skating became in 1992 an Olympic sport, he did not have to move to long track speed skating in order to participate in the Olympic games. His first overall world championship he realized already in 1993. This success he repeated 4 times while he won also two times silver and one time bronze. Besides he won on the Olympic games 3 times gold and 2 times bronze medals. By all these successes he was the best sports man of Canada in the 20th century. The most famous race was undoubtedly a race where he or one of the three other top skaters was expected to win but they did not due a spectacular accident as the video below shows.
The video illustrates that it is very easy to lose a game and a championship due to an accident caused by another. Therefore, it is even more remarkable that some of the best skaters are able to repeatedly win the overall championships. One of them was Marc Gagnon.
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Sylvie Daigle
Sylvie Daigle was born in 1962 in Quebec. In contrast with most Canadian speed skaters, she started with long track speedskaters. In 1979 she won already gold on the 500m, 1000m and the 1500m in the national championship. She participated in 1980 and 1984 in the Olympic Games but with little success. In contrast with her lack of success in long track speed skating on international level, she was immediately successful in short track speedskating winning gold at the all-round world championship in 1979, bronze in 1982, gold in 1983 and silver in 1984.
In 1985 till 1987 she underwent several knee operations for pain relief. In those years she could not skate and used the time to start a study of medicine. After these operations she could again successfully participate in short track speed skating and therefore interrupted her study. In 1987 at the world all-round championship she won again the gold medal and repeated this result in 1988,1989 and 1990, Finally, at the Olympic games she won with the Canadian team gold in 1992 and silver in 1994. Sylvie Daigle contributed to a large extent to this result as the video below shows.
Sylvie Daigle was born in 1962 in Quebec. In contrast with most Canadian speed skaters, she started with long track speedskaters. In 1979 she won already gold on the 500m, 1000m and the 1500m in the national championship. She participated in 1980 and 1984 in the Olympic Games but with little success. In contrast with her lack of success in long track speed skating on international level, she was immediately successful in short track speedskating winning gold at the all-round world championship in 1979, bronze in 1982, gold in 1983 and silver in 1984.
In 1985 till 1987 she underwent several knee operations for pain relief. In those years she could not skate and used the time to start a study of medicine. After these operations she could again successfully participate in short track speed skating and therefore interrupted her study. In 1987 at the world all-round championship she won again the gold medal and repeated this result in 1988,1989 and 1990, Finally, at the Olympic games she won with the Canadian team gold in 1992 and silver in 1994. Sylvie Daigle contributed to a large extent to this result as the video below shows.
After this result she decided to stop with competing in short track races and to finish her studies in medicine and started to work as a medical doctor.
Yang Yang A.
After a period where the Japanese skaters were competing with the Canadians for the Overall championship in short track speed skating, it was especially the Chinese skater Yang Yang A. who made a definite end to the hegemony of the Canadian skaters together with another Chinese skater with the same name which was denoted as Yang Yang S.
Yang Yang A. won 6 overall championships from 1997 till 2002, six times in a row. This is of course a tremendous result in short track where a small error of yourself or another skater will prevent you from winning a race. It seems that she was such a competent skater that she could prevent to fall and win six years after each other the overall title. At three occasions Yang Yang S. won one of the other medals which clearly indicated the superiority of the Chinese skaters in that period.
She participated and won also the first gold medals for China at the Olympic winter games. In 2002 in Salt Lake City she won two gold medals on the 500 and the 1000 meter. These were the first gold medals for China in the Winter Olympics.
In 2010 she was elected as member of the IOC and member of the World Anti Doping Agency.
In 2013 Yang was the cofounder of the Feiyang Centre in Sjanghai , a new double rink skating facility with an Olympic sized rink upstairs and a recreational sized rink down stairs.
In this video below she shows that she is not only a very good skater but also a very good representative of her country in the Winter Olympics.
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After a period where the Japanese skaters were competing with the Canadians for the Overall championship in short track speed skating, it was especially the Chinese skater Yang Yang A. who made a definite end to the hegemony of the Canadian skaters together with another Chinese skater with the same name which was denoted as Yang Yang S.
Yang Yang A. won 6 overall championships from 1997 till 2002, six times in a row. This is of course a tremendous result in short track where a small error of yourself or another skater will prevent you from winning a race. It seems that she was such a competent skater that she could prevent to fall and win six years after each other the overall title. At three occasions Yang Yang S. won one of the other medals which clearly indicated the superiority of the Chinese skaters in that period.
She participated and won also the first gold medals for China at the Olympic winter games. In 2002 in Salt Lake City she won two gold medals on the 500 and the 1000 meter. These were the first gold medals for China in the Winter Olympics.
In 2010 she was elected as member of the IOC and member of the World Anti Doping Agency.
In 2013 Yang was the cofounder of the Feiyang Centre in Sjanghai , a new double rink skating facility with an Olympic sized rink upstairs and a recreational sized rink down stairs.
In this video below she shows that she is not only a very good skater but also a very good representative of her country in the Winter Olympics.
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