Bonnie Blair was born on March 18, 1964, in Cornwall, New York. Bonnie Kathleen Blair came from a family of avid skaters and began entering speed skating races when she was four years old. She first gained acclaim at age 19 by winning the world short-track title in 1986 at Chamonix, France. A year later she twice set a world record for the 500-meter event on the standard circuit. In 1989 she won her first world sprint championship. She again won the world sprint title in 1994; also winning the World Cup 500- and 1,000-meter races that year. She repeated these feats in 1995. Blair's greatest success came at the Olympics, and she was the most successful American woman athlete in the history of Olympic competition. At the 1988 Games in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, she was a favorite in the sprint events and earned a gold in the 500-meter event and a bronze in the 1,000-meter event. She also became the first woman to skate 500 meters in less than 39 seconds. At the 1992 Games in Albertville, France, she captured the gold medal in both the 500- and 1,000-meter competitions, a feat that she repeated at the 1994 Olympic Games in Lillehammer, Norway. With her 500-meter win in 1994, she became the only speed skater of either sex to have won the same event in three successive Olympics. Although she was small for a speed skater, Blair's technique was nearly flawless. She was an exceptionally consistent skater, able to maintain an accentuated crouch and a smooth rhythm of her strides throughout a race. She exhibited a graceful body roll with pronounced lean even at top speed.