Connie Paraskevin-Young
Connie is an Olympian in cycling and speedskating! She knows how to stay on track and win!
Want a motivational speaker who truly moves people-who can translate athletic experience, create empathy and pull listeners onboard with passion? Climb on this cycle and go for a ride!
Connie Paraskevin-Young makes things happen. Not just a spunky girl with strong legs who became a five-time Olympian in two sports, her strong will made her decide on an athletic career, and strong drive took her to the top-for over 20 years.
With that decisiveness and a strategy, after competing as an Olympic speedskater and winning a World Championship medal, Paraskevin-Young opted to switch to track cycling-before it was a women's Olympic sport. She competed against men and lobbied to add women's sprint cycling to the 1988 Olympics-where she handily took the bronze medal.
Need more inspiration? It was no easy ride to the top for Paraskevin-Young. She overcame health obstacles-injuries to her knees, hand and ankle and endured severe, debilitating headaches, toughing it out, continually achieving her personal best.
Fierce in her efforts, Paraskevin-Young savors the victory of an all-out fight in a tough race over an easy win. Though competitive to the bone, she still has compassion, encouraging peers and competitors alike.
Post-Olympic competition, Paraskevin-Young the athlete, shifted gears readily into a mobile marketing agent. She attracted major sponsors and launched marketing campaigns to introduce products--and her sport to hundreds of thousands of people across the nation.
Athleticism helped breed Paraskevin-Young's drive, and also helped drive her success. As a multi-sport athlete, she cross-trained to hone a multitude of skills-a practice that shaped her multi-faceted life-one prepared to take on all challenges.
As a speaker, Paraskevin-Young is a mentor, bringing her expertise and enthusiasm to others in an always inspiring and interactive way. Using her experience and success as a five-time Olympian, she shares her techniques and spirit, coaching audiences on to top performance and personal achievement. Her clear, honest, passion is contagious. "We all have it in us-the ability to achieve like an Olympian, " she states, "You must make a commitment and move toward your goals each day."
Four-time World Champion, Cycling
Olympic Bronze Medal, Cycling
Olympic Team, Cycling - 1996, 1992, 1988
Olympic Team, Speedskating - 1984, 1980
U.S. National Speedskating Champion
World Record Holder - 200M Cycling
Bicycling Hall of Fame - Inducted 2003
U.S. Olympian Association, VP
