Joey Cheek
Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Full name | William Joseph N. Cheek | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Greensboro, North Carolina, U.S. | June 22, 1979||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Alma mater | Princeton University | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 6 ft 3 in (191 cm) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Weight | 174 lb (79 kg) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Country | United States | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | Speed skating | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Retired | 2006 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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William Joseph Cheek (born June 22, 1979) is an American former speed skater and inline speed skater. He specialized in the short and middle distances and won Olympic gold in 2006. Currently Cheek is a media entrepreneur.[1]
Accomplishments
Cheek's breakthrough was in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, where he won the bronze medal in the 1,000 meters.
In 2003 he won a bronze medal at the
On January 22, 2006, in
.At the
Cheek was elected by his teammates to carry the US flag into the closing ceremonies.[3] Near the end of NBC's coverage of the event, commentator Bob Costas noted that Cheek's application to Harvard University had not been accepted and lobbied the Dean of Admissions to reconsider the decision. Cheek has since graduated from Princeton University. At Princeton, Cheek was a member of the Ivy Club
Cheek planned to attend the
Personal life
Joey Cheek was born on June 22, 1979, in Greensboro, North Carolina. He picked up speed skating after meeting and watching neighborhood friend Bryan Anderson skate around the neighborhood training for Nationals. After years of skating with Bryan, his brother, and other Piedmont skaters, he switched to ice speed skating. He did this by attending a "from wheels to ice" class in Alaska.
Cheek attended James B. Dudley High School in Greensboro, North Carolina, and graduated from Princeton University as a member of the class of 2011, where he studied economics and the Chinese language.[5]
Philanthropy
Cheek is the co-founder and president of Team Darfur, an international coalition of athletes committed to raising awareness about and bringing an end to the crisis in Darfur, Sudan.
At a press conference after the Olympic 500-meter race, Cheek said that he decided to donate his USOC gold medal bonus ($25,000) to
Since his donation others have joined in and over $390,000 has been contributed to this cause.[6]
Personal records | ||||
Men's speed skating | ||||
Event | Result | Date | Location | Notes |
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500 m | 34.66 | 2001-12-19 | Salt Lake City, Utah |
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1000 m | 1:07.29 | 2001-12-18 | Salt Lake City, Utah |
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1500 m | 1:44.98 | 2004-12-21 | Salt Lake City, Utah |
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3000 m | 3:54.76 | 1999-11-26 | Calgary, Canada |
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5000 m | 6:42.57 | 1999-11-28 | Calgary, Canada |
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10000 m | 14:13.81 | 2000-01-16 | Calgary, Canada |
References
- ^ "Speed Skating Hall of Fame.com". Retrieved 15 October 2016.
- ^ "Joey Cheek - SpeedSkatingStats.com". Retrieved 15 October 2016.
- ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Joey Cheek". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 9 May 2017.
- ^ "HuffPost - Breaking News, U.S. And World News". HuffPost.
- ^ "USATODAY.com - U.S. speedskater Cheek charitable beyond years". USA Today. Retrieved 15 October 2016.
- ^ Duluth Superior Sports [dead link]
External links
- Joey Cheek at the International Skating Union
- Joey Cheek at Olympics.com
- Official site
- NBC Olympics Bio at the Wayback Machine (archived November 14, 2006)