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Olympic Skating Skin Suit, worn by Bonnie Blair

American History Museum

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Object Details

wearer

Blair, Bonnie

Description (Brief)

Speed skating skin suit, worn by American Bonnie Blair (b. 1964) at the 1992 Winter Olympic Games, held in Albertville, France. That year, Blair won gold in both the 500 and 1000 meter events. The world record setting skater is one of the most decorated U.S. Winter Olympic athletes of all time. Blair appeared at four Olympic games, taking home 5 gold medals and one bronze.
The 1992 Winter Olympics, also known as the Games of the XVI Olympiad were held in Albertville, France with 64 countries, 1,313 men and 488 women athletes participating. This was France's third time hosting a winter Olympics and the last time that the summer and winter Olympics would be held in the same year. The next winter Olympics would be held in 1994 and the Summer Games would be held in 1996. These were also the first games that the former Soviet republics competed as a unified team and the first time Germany's unified team competed together since the 1964 Summer Games. Bonnie Blair was the standout American athlete in speed skating earning two gold medals with US figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi earning a gold in women's figure skating. Germany won the medal count with 26 medals to the United States 11.

Location

Currently not on view

Credit Line

Bonnie Blair (through Helen W. Broder)

date made

1991

ID Number

1996.0054.01

accession number

1996.0054

catalog number

1996.0054.01

Object Name

suit, speed skating
speed skating suit, olympics

Physical Description

metal (zipper material)
fabric, spandex (overall material)
fabric, nylon (overall material)

Measurements

overall: 51 in x 12 in; 129.54 cm x 30.48 cm

See more items in

Culture and the Arts: Sport and Leisure
Highlights from the Culture and the Arts Collection

Data Source

National Museum of American History

level of sport

Olympics

name of sport

Speed Skating

web subject

Sports
Women

related event

Olympic Winter Games: Albertville, France, 1992

Metadata Usage

CC0

Link to Original Record

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a5-9593-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa

Record ID

nmah_748901

Discover More

woman swimming

Game Changers: American Women Athletes Who Made History

snowboard

Winter Sports

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