Speed skating champion Bonnie Blair (born 1964) is the most highly decorated American Winter Olympic athlete in history with six medals. She holds five gold medals, for the 500-meter and 1,000-meter events, as well as a bronze medal for the 1,000-meter event. Since her retirement from competition in 1995 at the age of 31, she has turned her stellar Olympic performances into a successful career as a motivational speaker and corporate spokesperson.

Learned to Skate at Two

Bonnie Kathleen Blair was born on March 18, 1964, in the Hudson River town of Cornwall, New York, and grew up in Champaign, Illinois. She was the youngest of six children, all of whom learned to skate at an early age. Blair herself was introduced to the sport when she was just two years old. She was so small at the time that her parents could not find skates that fit her, so she had to...