Jeremy Wotherspoon

Sport: Long Track Speed Skating
Residence: Calgary, Alberta
Born: October 1976

Speed skater Jeremy Wotherspoon knows if he’s ever going to win an Olympic gold medal it will have to be at the Vancouver Games.

It’s been something the Red Deer native, who’s called Jer by many colleagues and coaches, has been chasing for 20 years.

It’s been an elusive pursuit.

While Wotherspoon has on numerous occasions ruled the sport, he has never worn Olympic gold. He’s come heart-breakingly close, winning a silver medal in the men’s 500-metre event at the 1998 Nagano Games.

And he’s set 10 world records, the most recent in November 2009 at Kearns, Utah, after a year off following a spiral fracture in his left arm (his recovery included working on a Norwegian fishing boat hauling in cod). He shaved .22 seconds off the 500-metre world record to finish with a time of 34.03 seconds.

Wotherspoon also has 12 overall World Cup titles. With 58 victories, he is Canada’s most decorated male speed skater.  

Yet he’s suffered some crushing defeats and blows in his competitive career. The fractured arm in 2008 took him out of the sport for a year and required a plate and screws to heal. At the Salt Lake Games in 2002 he fell at the starting line for the 500-metre event and failed to complete the race; in the 100-metre event he finished well back at 13th.

At the Turin Games in 2006, his performance was marginal (given in 2003 he had become the most successful male skater in World Cup history) and he finished ninth in the 500-metre event and 11th in the 1,000-metre event.

Since then, Wotherspoon’s learned to how to better deal with the ups and downs of competitive life—and others’ disappointment and criticism.

“It used to bother me, what people would say or write,” he told the Calgary Herald in February 2010. “But after a lot of soul-searching, I came to the realization what I think, not what anyone else thinks, is all that matters. I can’t control anyone else.”

More about Jeremy …
Birthplace: Humboldt, Sask.
Grew up in: Red Deer, Alta.
Residence: Calgary, Alta.
Club: Red Deer Central Lions Speed Skating Club
Other pursuits: an accomplished fly fisherman; also enjoys snowboarding

Milestones:
• Started speed skating at the age of 8
• Moved to Calgary at age of 17 to train
• Has dominated national and international sprint events for more than a dozen years
• World Champion in 500-metre event in 2008; fourth in world for 1,000-metre
• Finished first overall in 2007/08 500-metre event World Cup standings, winning gold in nine out of 10 races
• At the age of 33, set a new 500-metre world record of 34.03 seconds in Kearns, Utah in November 2009 after taking a year off
• Silver medalist at 2005 and 2008 World Sprint Championships
•  World Sprint champion in 1999, 2000, 2002 and 2003
• Selected Speed Skating Canada’s Male Skater of the Year (long track) each year from 1998 to 2005 and again in 2008
• Set new record for most career World Cup victories in December 2003 and has held it ever since
• Set new outdoor world record in 500-metre event at 2004 World Cup in Italy
• World Cup record holder for sprint combined points
• 2001 World single distances champion in 1,000-metre event
• 1998 Olympic silver medalist in 500-metre event

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