Sports
Connie Paraskevin
born 1961 · track cyclist, speed skater
Detroit-born athlete who competed in both the Winter and Summer Olympics, won four world sprint cycling titles and an Olympic bronze medal in 1988.
- Born
Detroit, Michigan
age 65- Birth name
- Constance Anne Paraskevin
- Also known as
- Connie Paraskevin-Young
- Detroit years
- 1961–1980s
- Field
- Sports
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Connie Paraskevin grew up in Detroit and first made her name as a speed skater, part of a strong Michigan tradition in the sport, before turning to track cycling, where the explosive power of skating translated into sprinting. She became one of the dominant women's match sprinters of the 1980s, winning the world sprint championship four times and the U.S. national sprint title ten times. She was on the U.S. speed-skating team at the 1980 Winter Olympics without competing, raced at the 1984 Winter Games, and then switched to the Summer Games, and at the 1988 Seoul Olympics she won the bronze medal in the women's sprint, the first time the event was held at the Olympics. She was married for a time to Olympic cyclist Roger Young, and she later coached and worked in the sport. She remains one of the most versatile Olympians to come out of Detroit.
Highlights
- Four-time world sprint cycling champion
- Ten-time U.S. national sprint champion
- Olympic bronze medal in the sprint, Seoul 1988
- Competed in both Winter (speed skating) and Summer (cycling) Olympics