Gold medal	1994 Lillehammer	Speed Skating Men's 1,000m

Dan Jansen (born June 17, 1965 in West Allis, Wisconsin) is an American speedskater best known for winning a gold medal in his final Olympic race after suffering through years of heartbreak. Subject: The Olympic Rings. ... The XVII Olympic Winter Games were held in 1994 in Lillehammer, Norway. ... June 17 is the 168th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (169th in leap years), with 197 days remaining. ... 1965 (MCMLXV) was a common year starting on Friday (link goes to calendar). ... Wisconsin State Fair West Allis is a city located in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin. ... Gaetan Boucher training for the 1976 Olympics Speed skating (as well Speedskating) is a form of ice skating in which the competitors attempt to travel a certain distance over the ice as quickly as possible. ... Gold Medal is an album by American band The Donnas, released in 2004. ...

Inspired by his sister Jane, Jansen took up speedskating while growing up in Wisconsin. He set a junior world record in the 500 meter race at the age of sixteen, and finished sixteenth in the 500 meters and fourth in the 1000 meters at the 1984 Winter Olympics. The XIV Olympic Winter Games were held in 1984 in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Yugoslavia. ...

As the 1988 Winter Olympics approached, Jansen was a favorite in the 500 and 1000 meter races, having improved in the years between Olympics, while overcoming a case of mononucleosis in 1987. However, on the day of the race, he received a phone call saying that Jane was dying of leukemia. Several hours after speaking to his dying sister, he was informed that she had died. That night, he would fall while competing in the 500 meters. Later in those Olympics, he would fall again in the 1,000, and would leave with no medals. The XV Olympic Winter Games were held in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. ... Infectious mononucleosis (also known as mono, the kissing disease, Pfeiffers disease, and, in British English, glandular fever) is a disease seen most commonly in adolescents and young adults, characterized by fever, sore throat and fatigue. ... 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Leukemia (leukaemia in Commonwealth English) is a cancer of the blood or bone marrow characterized by an abnormal proliferation of white blood cells (leukocytes). ...

Jansen would arrive at the 1992 Winter Olympics as a favorite yet again. A year before, he set a world record in the 500 meters, among his other accompishments. But disaster struck again, as he finished fourth in the 500 meters and twenty-sixth in the 1000 meters. So once again, Jansen would leave the Olympics with no medals. The XVI Olympic Winter Games were held in 1992 in Albertville, France. ...

The 1994 Winter Olympics would be Jansen's final attempt to win an Olympic medal of any kind. Between the 1992 and 1994 Olympics, he would have the distinction of being the only man to break 36 seconds in the 500 meters, doing so four times in those years. In the 500 meters, he would finish eighth, and went into the 1000 meters with the assumption that he would end his career without any Olympic medals. Instead, he won his first and only gold medal in his career, as he set a new world record in the process, and he would dedicate his gold medal to his late sister. For his efforts, Jansen received the 1994 Sullivan Award. The XVII Olympic Winter Games were held in 1994 in Lillehammer, Norway. ... The James E. Sullivan Award is awarded annually by the Amateur Athletic Union to the top amateur athlete in the United States. ...

Today, Jansen is a speedskating commentator for NBC. He has also set up the "Dan Jansen Foundation" in memory of his sister, with the purpose of fighting leukemia. The National Broadcasting Company or NBC is an American television broadcasting company based in New York Citys Rockefeller Center. ...

External links

• Biography from ESPN Classic
• The Dan Jansen foundation