Bonnie Blair is one of the top skaters of her time and one of the most decorated athletes in Olympic history. She competed for the United States in four Olympics and won five gold medals. Blair was heralded in the media as “the 5’-4’’ Colossus on Skates.” As a cheerful, bright-eyed child, she followed her five older brothers and sisters onto the ice skating rink. Bonnie Blair immediately found a passion for the sport, and began competing in skating at the age of four. She later competed in popular “pack racing” on short tracks but, being small, she had a hard time elbowing her way to the front of the pack. At age 16, she made her first trip to a larger Olympic track, and skated against the clock, dazzled the crowd, and made the national team. Blair trained daily, gained astonishing power, and nourished a fierce desire to win. Five years later, she became the top women’s sprinter on the Olympic team. Blair became the U.S. Olympic Committee’s Woman “Speed Skater of the Year” for seven consecutive years. In 1988, at the Calgary Olympics, she skated 500-meters faster than any woman had before, capturing the gold medal in world-record time. In the 1992 Albertville Olympics, she became the first woman in Olympic history to win consecutive gold medals in the 500-meter event, and then made history again in the 1,000-meters by winning her second gold medal of the Games. Blair’s “success under pressure, her modesty in accepting the medal, holding back the tears, and her tender words to those she defeated” are the characteristics that endeared her to millions of viewers around the world, and are the measure of a true champion. Bonnie Blair participated in the 1992 Achievement Summit, several months after her Olympic skating victories, and shared with the student delegates her personal ingredients for success. Later that year, she was named Sports Illustrated magazine’s “Sportsman of the Year.” In 2004, Bonnie Blair was elected to the United States Olympic Hall of Fame.