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Joey Cheek

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Joey Cheek
Personal information
Full nameWilliam Joseph N. Cheek
Born (1979-06-22) June 22, 1979 (age 45)
Greensboro, North Carolina, U.S.
Alma materPrinceton University
Height6 ft 3 in (191 cm)
Weight174 lb (79 kg)
Sport
Country United States
SportSpeed skating
Retired2006
Medal record
Men's speed skating
Representing the  United States
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 2006 Turin 500 m
Silver medal – second place 2006 Turin 1000 m
Bronze medal – third place 2002 Salt Lake City 1000 m
World Sprint Championships
Gold medal – first place 2006 Heerenveen Sprint
Bronze medal – third place 2005 Salt Lake City Sprint
World Single Distance Championships
Bronze medal – third place 2003 Berlin 1000 m
Bronze medal – third place 2003 Berlin 1500 m

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

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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 World Single Distance Championships in Berlin in the 1,000- and 1,500-meter events. Both distances at that tournament were won by Dutch speed skater Erben Wennemars. In 2005, Cheek made the podium for the first time in the World Sprint Championships, again behind Wennemars.

On January 22, 2006, in Heerenveen, Cheek became world sprint champion. On aggregate he beat Dmitry Dorofeyev of Russia and Jan Bos of the Netherlands.

At the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, Cheek won the men's 500-meter event in dominating style, recording a two-run total time of 1:09.76. That time was 0.65 seconds faster than runner-up Dorofeyev, and Cheek was the only competitor to break the 35-second mark in the competition, doing so in both of his runs (34.82 and 34.94). He went on to win silver in the 1,000-meter race, finishing just behind teammate Shani Davis.[2]

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 Beijing 2008 Olympic Games in support of athletes on Team Darfur. His visa was revoked by the Chinese embassy hours before he intended to leave for China.[4]

Personal life

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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

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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 Right to Play, an athlete-driven international humanitarian organization formed by former Olympic champion Johann Olav Koss of Norway. Cheek challenged others to make similar pledges to the organization. He subsequently donated his prize money from the 1,000-meter race ($15,000) to the same organization.

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
500 m 34.66 2001-12-19 Salt Lake City, Utah
1000 m 1:07.29 2001-12-18 Salt Lake City, Utah
1500 m 1:44.98 2004-12-21 Salt Lake City, Utah
3000 m 3:54.76 1999-11-26 Calgary, Canada
5000 m 6:42.57 1999-11-28 Calgary, Canada
10000 m 14:13.81 2000-01-16 Calgary, Canada

References

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  1. ^ "Speed Skating Hall of Fame.com". Retrieved 15 October 2016.
  2. ^ "Joey Cheek - SpeedSkatingStats.com". Retrieved 15 October 2016.
  3. ^ 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.
  4. ^ "HuffPost - Breaking News, U.S. And World News". HuffPost.
  5. ^ "USATODAY.com - U.S. speedskater Cheek charitable beyond years". USA Today. Retrieved 15 October 2016.
  6. ^ Duluth Superior Sports [dead link]
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